The Story of the Earth Sage of The Leaf
by TheEpicStoryteller
Summary: The earth-style ninja Pedro Namikaze chooses to leave his war-thirsty clan to join The Leaf, without knowing that his choice will change The Leaf, his world, the past, and the future forever… Read the epic story of the hero from The Leaf who was not one of its Hokages, but who is a deep influence in Naruto's saga. This is a "prequel and sequel" show that is simply awesome! Enjoy ;)
1. Chapter 1: A New Path

**CHAPTER 1: A New Path**

He kept on walking. The map he had was damaged by the heavy rain, but he knew that he had been following the correct route. The rain had stopped and every minute that went by made him feel closer to reaching his destination. He had been travelling for days towards "the hidden village among the leaves," better known as The Leaf by other ninja alliances.

He had heard about the Third Hokage's deeds. He also knew that The Leaf was the ninja clan that had worked the hardest to maintain peace for their people and for the other clans as well. This had been the case since it was founded by their first leader, the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju. And since then, they had been the ninjas that had come closest to fulfilling the ideal of peace and a war-less life for many of their people—especially for their youngest generation.

His clan and his original village had been very different. He was born at the Namikaze village, one of the small villages that were adjacent to The Clan of the Stone. He and others at his home village became adept users of Earth-based techniques, or jutsus, in order to protect themselves during the constant wars of the larger clans. They joined forces with the larger Clan of the Stone, but they still suffered many losses throughout the wars, and the great home village that he remembered from his childhood was now gone—along with most of its people. Regardless of the losses, the Clan of the Stone was fixated with expansion and foolish rivalries with the other clans, instead of finding a way towards peace, and fighting for it…

He had enough of it. His family and his friends were dead. And now, the Clan of the Stone was going to put him and the few others left from the small villages as members of a new Anbu Ninja Division. This was the same as saying they would be used as disposable assassins for the clan. This wasn't the future that he wanted and it was against the ideals that he desired. He wanted change, and they offered to make him a killer that would bring forth even more death. Unfortunately, the few other ninjas he knew and everybody else agreed. He was the only one who saw things differently.

One day he decided that he would make his ideals come true. He was still young at 28, so he felt he still had the chance, the time, and the determination to fight for a better future without war and conflicts. He knew he couldn't do it alone though. Then, the path for him became clear…

He decided to leave his war-thirsty clan and to join the clan of The Leaf, led by the Third Hokage.

He knew many would call him a traitor and even a coward, but it didn't matter, because he also knew that they would not join him to fight for peace. The clan with the closest ideals to his own was the place where he would have the best chance to make them come true. It was also the place where he would be happy…

Two months later, there he was, closer to The Leaf than ever before…

He closed the old map and kept going. Something didn't feel right however. He knew that he should have been intercepted by ninjas, or by undercover Anbu agents from The Leaf, by the time he got there. Such an important place had to be guarded. It surely had a very skilled group of ninjas guarding its perimeter, even miles in advance. Why was no one there?

Then, he saw it…

He finally saw what looked like the entrance of a village!

He put away his map and proceeded with caution because he also saw two gatekeepers at that entrance—and there could have been many others hidden in the area; he expected no less from a place as famous as The Leaf…

They could think he was a spy, or even some kind of trap, and attack him head on. He was ready for battle, just in case, but his true intention was to join them there. He removed his orange cape so that they could see he was not carrying special weapons or armor. He was concerned though; he had not fought against any ninja from The Leaf before and he was not aware of any special techniques they could use. He hoped that there would be no confrontations and that talking to them would be enough. He continued walking straight towards them.

The two guards noticed him fairly quickly:

"Hey! You with the orange cape, stop right there!" said one, while he took out his two fire knives.

"Identify yourself and don't get any closer!" shouted the other when he unsheathed his katana.

The traveler answered calmly:

"My name is Pedro Namikaze and I come in peace. I want to join you."

The stranger left his cape on the floor and dropped his sword to show that he had nothing to hide.

"Namikaze? I haven't heard that last name since the news of the Fourth Hokage's death at The Leaf, after the attack of the Nine-Tails demon fox," whispered the guard in the right to the other one, while he held his katana tight in his hands.

"Are you a rogue ninja!?" yelled the one with the two fire knives, when he realized that the stranger wasn't wearing a bandana with the sign of his small village's brotherly clan, The Leaf.

"Why did you come here? What do you seek?" asked the other guard while looking straight at this stranger, who was just ten meters away now.

"Like I said, I want to join The Leaf. I want to join forces with you and I want to stay here to fight for peace. I will do as you say as long as you let me become a ninja from The Leaf. This is my wish. I want to be one of you."

Pedro's reply was very sincere, but the distrust apparent in the two gatekeepers increased even more when they heard that.

Then, the one that had the sword said something that made Pedro realize the mistake of his map:

"The Leaf and its main town, Konoha, are five miles away from here, taking that path over there. Are you sure that you are not lying to us to get closer?"

The other one looked ready for battle with his two fire knives.

Then, it happened…

It was like a lighting flash that none of them expected.

The real rogue ninjas that had been hiding in the trees made their move!

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Ambush


	2. Chapter 2: The Ambush

**CHAPTER 2: The Ambush**

Two shurikens and a knife with a massive explosive tied to it came flying towards the two gatekeepers from each side. The one with the sword managed to deviate the explosive knife with a knife throw of his own, and he intercepted a shuriken that was going straight for his face with his sword. However, he was hit in the body by the other shuriken. The guard of the twin fire knives intercepted the other two shurikens that were directed at him, but he couldn't stop the second explosive knife and he got hurt when it exploded not too far from him.

For a second there, they thought that this ambush was a trap led by the ninja without a clan's badge, but soon they were proven wrong.

Two more explosive knives were thrown towards them, but before these could reach them, the knives got shoot and exploded in mid-air. The soil in front of them also rose up and created an Earth wall to shield them.

Pedro had used the Earth shot and Earth cover jutsus, which were Earth-release techniques from his original village. (Jutsus are special techniques in the world of Naruto. Some can be learned from practice, but many, such as the sharingan eye's techniques, can only be used by ninjas that are descendants of certain bloodlines and clans. Very few ninjas can use more than two types of special techniques.)

He quickly grabbed his cape and shot two more Earth-released bullets at high speed to the left and right. Both were directed to the places where he saw the shurikens and the explosive knives coming from. And sure enough, a ninja felt down from the left tree and a masked guy jumped out from the other one with a katana in hand to attack.

Pedro threw his orange cape in the air in front of himself. The masked ninja reached him quickly and slashed the cape with his katana, but he was not there anymore. Was this another jutsu technique or just a pure feat of speed?

"Earth-hold jutsu!" said Pedro while he made hand signs that finished with him closing his hands together. Right after that, the two parts of the ground to the left and right of the guy that attacked him rose up and grabbed the ninja by the waist. The guy realized he was trapped, so very quickly he launched his other two knives with explosives attached straight towards Pedro.

"Earth-style grab no-jutsu!"

He, once more, made the ground in front of him raise up, but this time it was different: as soon as the ground that rose came in contact with the explosive knives, he stopped his hand gestures, closed his hands, and extended them towards the trapped ninja. The two mounds of soil and grass, not only grabbed the airborne knives, but also went straight towards the ninja that was stuck since his last attack. One knife exploded and destroyed the mound, but the other didn't.

The trapped ninja's eyes said everything. He knew this was likely to be the end of the line for him. Once the mound of soil crashed with him, the other knife also exploded.

Meanwhile, two other masked ninjas had jumped out of their hiding spot to attack the two gatekeepers. Pedro's Earth-style shield had to cover the front side for both of them and it wasn't a particularly large or powerful one. It left their back and other positions wide open for any attack. The guards had been hurt in the previous surprise attack, so their odds weren't looking great, but they also had a couple of tricks of their own.

The guard of the red fire knives jumped out and made his move before the other two could land an attack on them. He made his technique's hand signs and quickly placed his knives at an angle in front of his face.

"Fire-style Katon Blaze no-jutsu!"

The blaze of fire that he launched forward was split in two parts by his knives. Both masses of fire went straight towards the two enemies from two different sides. One of them got hit pretty badly by the attack and the other got caught by the fire, but didn't take a direct hit. The first one didn't get up again, but the other used his strongest elemental technique right away:

"Water-style twisting stream no-jutsu!"

The gatekeeper used his Katon fire attack once more, but he didn't have time to launch the full blaze. As a result, his fire stopped half of the wild stream of fast-moving water, but he was hit directly by the other half. To make matters worse, another enemy ninja came out of nowhere to attack them.

The guard of the sword knew it was his time to act. He didn't know any special jutsu or technique, but he was well-trained in the use of weapons. He left his sword and grabbed his two explosive knives instead. Then, he threw them, one towards each of the two enemies approaching. Unfortunately, the attackers were pretty good. Both unsheathed their battle knives and deflected the two explosive knives with their own projectile attacks.

However, one of them got the surprise of a lifetime right after, when the explosive knife he evaded came back to him and hit him along with a mound of soil from the ground. The explosion that followed was pretty bad as well. Thus, the other one took notice immediately and saw that the Earth-release user was back. Clearly, he had defeated the ones who attacked him.

The attacker ignored the two guards and prepared to take out the Earth-style ninja with his water-based attack. He knew that water-style jutsus could penetrate techniques that used the soil.

"Water-style twisting stream no-jutsu!"

"Earth-style double Earth-shoot no-jutsu!"

Both started to prepare their attack at the same time, but before the water technique had taken form, a rock-like fist-sized piece of compact soil had hit the ninja attacker in the stomach. This hit stopped him from completing his attack and, right after, the second shoot struck him wildly in the chest.

"Earth-release projectile techniques are much faster than long-range jutsus of the water style. I guess you didn't know that."

The water-style ninja fell down to the ground and looked like he was out of the game for the moment. The others didn't get up to attack again either. Then, Pedro went to check the condition of the two gatekeepers.

"So this isn't The Leaf, huh? It looks like you have enemies too. Are you two alright?"

The guy with the sword replied "yes," but he was bleeding a little from the right side of his waist. The fire-style user was in bad shape, but at least he wasn't bleeding.

"Thank you for helping us," said the soaked guard of the fire knives, before he paused to breathe.

The wind there was getting somewhat heavy and none of the attackers had raised to finish the job. Then. the owner of the red fire knives said to Pedro:

"These guys may have been after you. I don't think our small village has anything of value to bring a group of skilled ninjas to attack us here, at our front door."

Then, someone they had not noticed screamed:

"You are wrong!"

Pedro Namikaze and the two ninja guards turned around. There was someone else there—not too far from them—wearing a mask like the others, but his clothes were not the same. The others had black clothing and this one was wearing dark blue clothes. He also had his hands and arms uncovered, up to his shoulders. Both of his arms had the same creepy-looking tattoo, starting on his hands and ending on his shoulders. It resembled the double helix form of the human DNA molecule, but the real reason why he had those on his arms was his nickname—which was about to be revealed. It also looked like he was carrying a sword on his back, but not other weapons.

"You three defeated my squad, so I will have to finish you for them, and do the job myself," said the stranger with a decisive voice.

Then, he began to take off his mask, band by band, until his face was fully uncovered. The fire-user was shocked when he recognized the stranger's face:

"Jounen! Is that you?!"

The other guard also looked shocked and somewhat worried.

"An Uchiha like you soaked and pushed back by a water-based attack. Things haven't changed around here I see," said Jounen sarcastically while he smiled maliciously.

(The Uchiha clan is one of the clans that formed The Leaf. Uchihas are well-known for their mastery of the fire-style and their fearsome eye techniques that only those Uchihas who have awakened their sharingan eye can perfom.)

"Where is the Uchiha girl that came with you that day? The one that mentioned she was Madara Uchiha's grand-daughter."

(Madara is a legendary Uchiha warrior of the past that was said to be one of the two most powerful ninjas of his generation, alongside the first Hokage Hashirama Senju. He was also one of the few Uchihas who's sharingan eye evolved to an unprecedented level that had not been seen in centuries. Many Uchihas never awakened their sharingan eyes, and among those who did very few ever reached the other levels of evolution for the sharingan's power.)

The Uchiha guard stood up completely and grabbed his two fire knives:

"So that is why you want to attack us? We will not let you enter this village or harm any of the people here… not even her."

The guard of the sword looked extremely worried.

Pedro noticed this and asked him:

"Who is this guy?"

And the guard replied:

"He is Jounen, a ninja that left our village and became a rogue ninja. He is a wind-style user and was the most powerful ninja in this village when he left, five years ago."

Pedro knew that neither of the two guards were in good condition for a high-level battle. Even himself, an Anbu-level ninja (Anbu ninjas are like secret undercover agents in Naruto's world), was not quite ready to defeat the most powerful ninjas in the continent. One thing was clear for him though: he knew he had to help them; otherwise, Jounen would kill them.

"Kenn, do you really think that an Uchiha failure like you, who never awakened his sharingan; Carl, the good-for-nothing sword-user who can't perform elemental jutsus; and some random Earth ninja can stop me here?!"

Kenn and Carl didn't answer, but despite the bad situation, they would not let him go through. Pedro was ready to help them again. It was clear this wasn't going to be easy. Pedro had also noticed that this guy was the one causing the strong winds close to them. He had to be a skilled wind ninja.

"There is a reason why they call me 'Tornado' Jounen. You will experience it now," said Jounen as he prepared his ninja hand signs to start his first attack.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Versus Tornado Jounen


	3. Chapter 3: Versus Tornado Jounen

**CHAPTER 3: Versus Tornado Jounen**

"I will kill all three of you and then I will take the two sharingan eyes of the Uchiha girl!"

"Wind-style wind-vortex jutsu!"

A violent and fast whirlpool of air started to form in front of Jounen, and it began to gather soil, rocks, and dust from the ground very quickly. Then, two others like it began to form in the sides of the first one. In a matter of seconds, Jounen didn't look as visible as before anymore.

It looked like he was covering himself, but Pedro knew this could not be the case because powerful and eccentric ninjas like this guy were not likely to fight in a defensive position. Then, Kenn jumped in front of Carl and Pedro, and reacted to Jounen's first move very quickly with his own fire attack:

"Katon burning blaze jutsu!"

"Don't!" yelled Pedro at him, recognizing that mixing fire with the vortexes could give bad results, but it was already too late.

Right when Jounen noticed Kenn's movement, he followed with his true attack—the vortexes were just a diversion tactic.

"Wind-style hurricane gale jutsu!"

All the moving winds in the place began to move fiercely towards the direction of the blaze, and the violent vortexes that seemed to be for defense, quickly went forward to attack as well. The vortexes engulfed the whole blaze and made the furious fire part of their own spiral of death. This happened way too fast, and by the time the others realized it, the violent vortexes of fire, Earth, and wind were right there.

Pedro realized that this was what Jounen intended to do from the start because if he had attacked with an Earth-style jutsu, the effect would have been the same, but with more soil and dust, rather than with fire. This scenario was even worse. It didn't look like there was any other choice for him now:

He quickly jumped as far in front of the other two as he could and used his most powerful defensive-shield jutsu, before the barrage of death clashed with them:

"Earth-style Grand-Earth-Wall jutsu!"

The whole ground raised in front of him, uncovering what looked like a solid rock wall that was about three meters tall and twelve meters wide. And as soon as the wall went up, the fire vortexes clashed with it with all their fury. The mighty clash was so strong that Pedro wasn't sure that his last defense would be able to hold it.

He could feel, with his hands on the wall, how the other side was starting to crumble. And to make matters worse, he could also feel how fatigue was starting to reach him. He had used several jutsus in the last minutes, and that had depleted a good portion of his body's chakra. He knew he would not be able to use any other jutsus if he depleted the chakra he had left. It had to be conserved at all costs!

(In the world of Naruto, all people have "chakra," or an inner energy, which is what allows them to use jutsus and other special techniques, such as those of the sharingan eyes.)

Unfortunately for them, Jounen was faster and managed to take the upper hand at the beginning of the battle. The fire vortexes weren't going for him, so he didn't waste any time and went for Carl and Kenn while the Earth-style ninja was busy with his defensive attack.

Carl noticed that in between the crazy winds, something was heading straight for him at high speed! He quickly used his sword and blocked the kunai that headed for him, but as soon as it landed on the ground, it exploded! It was an explosive knife, like the ones the previous attackers had used.

Jounen landed nearby with a sword in his hand, and he also unsheathed the katana he had on his back. Jounen knew Carl was good with weapons, so he wanted a close sword clash with him. Thus, Carl's sword and Jounen's dual blades crashed!

Jounen took an attacking position, moving fast and throwing one sword slash after another, with both hands. Carl was forced to be on defensive mode since he only had one blade and Jounen was quite fast, but Carl managed to keep up and he blocked or dodged all direct hits. Jounen could tell that Carl had a chance against him if this was strictly a sword fight, but it was not, and that made Jounen confident.

Before the other two could join Carl, Jounen made his big move. After a few moves, he made a space between him and Carl. Then, he put back the katana on his back and the sword on his belt, and he did several backflips to get away from Carl. He crouched down while he saw that Kenn was also running towards him and Carl, with his two red fire knives on his hands. Jounen smiled—the scenario could not be any better for him to deliver a lethal attack for both of them at once! Then, he performed his hand movements for a jutsu attack!

"Wind-style wind-twirler jutsu!"

The wind began to circle his hand and, as he threw the knife, all of it was transferred to the knife, which began to spin faster and faster while it moved in the air. It looked as if there was a mini-tornado engulfing the airborne knife and making it spin wildly. The lethal knife went straight towards Carl. It was thrown from a close distance and very quickly. Carl couldn't dodge, but his reflexes were fast enough to put his sword in the knife's path. The knife was like an airborne drill that fought against Carl's sword.

Then, it happened. Jounen knew that attacks like his next move consumed massive amounts of chakra in one shot, and they were meant to be used as a last resort or against powerful adversaries only. However, he was overconfident and his superiority complex got to his head; thus, he did it, without hesitation and without considering the consequences. Jounen used his most powerful wind-based attack, the one that had earned him the nickname:

"Wind-style tornado jutsu!"

Jounen's arms and the air he blew through his mouth guided the center of gravity of what started to turn into a horizontal tornado that went straight for Carl. All the winds in the whole area joined the tornado and started to strengthen it. Carl was dealing with the knife, so he could not dodge and was hit directly by the wild twister. The thing continued getting worse as the seconds went by, until it raised and blew Carl away. Carl crashed with the edge of the wall that had been raised by Pedro. Then, Jounen moved the tornado's direction and made it go straight for Kenn. Kenn was better prepared than Carl to cover himself:

"Katon heat-shield jutsu!"

Nonetheless, his minimal shield couldn't do anything against the tornado. Soon, he was also struck by the wild phenomenon and blown away.

Suddenly, Jounen's tornado began to scatter and to become smaller and less violent. Eventually, it was gone, but the harm was already done.

Jounen was left fatigued from using his ultimate jutsu. He looked around and felt satisfied when he spotted both Carl and Kenn on the ground at different locations. He was quite sure that they were not going to get up anytime soon—if they were alive that is. He also knew that if they were the village's front guards, then no one else inside was likely to give him more trouble than them. He felt closer to the fortune that he could make by getting the sharingan eyes of Madara Uchiha's grand-daughter, who was not a threat to him—despite the fact she had an awakened sharingan—because he knew that she was just a pacific medical ninja. He perceived no threat from her. The Earth-ninja was still up though.

After seeing what happened in such a short amount of time, Pedro knew exactly what he was up against. Jounen was a powerful ninja, possibly above his current Anbu level, but he had wasted massive amounts of chakra with his last attack. If he was going to stop Jounen it had to be done now.

Pedro reached for his sword, but he did not have it.

"Is this what you are looking for Earth ninja?" asked Jounen while he took out the sword on his belt.

"You shouldn't have disarmed yourself so quickly for these weaklings. You are going to wish you had been taking your trip somewhere else today."

Indeed, the second sword that Jounen had was Pedro's. This meant he had been watching them and planning his attack from the start, since Pedro arrived there. It also meant he had used his men as a decoy to take Pedro's weapon and as disposable pawns to see what all three of them were capable of, before he fought them himself.

"Instead of using your squad and stealing behind our backs, you should have shown yourself from the start," said Pedro and then added:

"Your jutsus may be mighty, but you are not, and I don't like ninjas that use their teammates as you do."

When Jounen heard this, his blood boiled up. It angered him to see that the Earth ninja would talk that way, even without having his sword, and after seeing him use tornado. Pedro was already starting to see Jounen's fighting style, so he prepared himself for the clash:

"Earth-style Earth-shaper jutsu!"

Two objects raised from the soil and then they materialized into a solid form. They were a sword and a shield. Jounen rushed to attack and another clash of weapons started.

Soon it was clear that the Earth ninja was also skilled, but it was also visible that the sword and shield he had were not going to resist for much longer. The shield, in particular, had started to show some minor cracks.

In a sudden move, such as the one he did versus Carl, Jounen threw Pedro's sword in the air, put his katana on his back, and used another jutsu:

"Wind-style shrinking-vortex jutsu!"

A vortex of wind encircled Pedro and started to become more violent as it began to shrink towards its center.

"This is one of my most lethal jutsus and one that most never managed to avoid! This is as far as you go Earth ninja!"

Pedro used his second best defensive tactic, which was the Earth-sphere jutsu. A solid-looking sphere surrounded him before the vortex could touch him. Jounen felt more victorious once he saw this, and even though he knew he had very little chakra left, he had to continue with a finishing move. He couldn't resist seeing such an opportunity and not using it. Besides, he was already sure that he had everything in his favor, such was his overconfidence. Thus, as Pedro's sword began to fall down and approached Jounen once again, he continued:

"Wind-style wind-twirler jutsu!"

Then, he did with the sword what he had done with the spinning knife earlier: The winds that circled his arms joined the sword and made it spin after he threw it aimed at Pedro's sphere. The sword couldn't reach Pedro, however. Kenn deviated it with a diagonal slash of his red fire knives, which were lighted up with fire! Then, he charged towards Jounen, who barely had any time to take out his katana and block the fire slash. Kenn's knives looked more powerful than before and a certain fire blaze was emanating from them. He clearly had used some kind of fire-style technique on them.

Kenn was fast, but he wasn't landing any direct hit on Jounen. However, Jounen had reached his chakra limit and couldn't use his jutsu techniques. He was forced to use his true last resort technique and had no other choice but to end everything with his next few moves, otherwise he was finished. As arrogant as he was though, he couldn't finish things without first putting down his opponent:

"I heard the whole Uchiha clan was massacred, so you and that girl may be the last ones. It seems like all of you are a bunch of weaklings, unless you awaken your sharingan's full power. But even with the sharingan itself, that girl never looked like much and you never even awakened yours."

Kenn was mad, but he was also trashed from getting struck by part of the tornado jutsu earlier. It was a miracle that he still had the strength to stand and fight—clearly, his apparently useless shield had helped him a little. Jounen was also at his limit, but he had a last card under his sleeve that he was about to use to finish them.

Out of the eight chakra gates of the body, he could open up to two. This was a dangerous technique of taijutsu masters that would put the body at serious risk, but also increased speed, strength, and chakra levels momentarily, even if the person was already out of chakra.

(Based on Naruto's show, those who open all eight gates momentarily attain incredible chakra— comparable to that of one of the nine legendary tailed beasts—but die afterwards. Those who opened less than eight would not die, but their bodies would suffer pain and injuries that were worse depending on the time used and the number of gates opened.)

A slash of Jounen's katana managed to reach Kenn's left arm before he could avoid it, leaving him with another bad injury. Then, Jounen used the opportunity: he distanced himself from Kenn and opened two of his chakra gates, which was his limit for this taijutsu technique. Quickly, he felt the increase of chakra throughout his body and rather than thinking about how to use it, he decided to use it all in another tornado that would finish them once and for all.

Pedro had used his Earth-mover jutsu, combined with his spherical shield, to move himself unharmed out of the shrinking vortex. He landed with both of his hands on the ground and knew that he was out of chakra too. The fatigue he had was going to be a problem to deal not just with Jounen, but with anyone. And to worsen the situation, Jounen could use the chakra gates and was about to unleash another tornado.

Then, he remembered what the old taijutsu master from his small—now gone—Namikaze village had once taught him when he was little:

"It was important to know a little of all arts, even if he made himself an adept of one, and it was just as important to know when was the right time to use each."

The master, who wasn't alive now, had taught him how to open his first chakra gate. And now, Pedro knew that it was the right time to use it.

Jounen also knew that everything was at stake, so he unleashed the most devastating tornado than he was capable of:

"Wind-style tornado jutsu!"

The tornado went forward, but before it reached Kenn, Pedro grabbed him, avoided the tornado's path altogether, and left Kenn nearby. Then, he came back.

Jounen could barely believe what he saw. He couldn't believe tornado was avoided with ease. And this guy was very fast, may be even faster than him. His surprise grew even more when he saw the minor green glow on the skin of the Earth ninja—this was a sure sign of the fact that he had chakra gates open! He could do it too!

Then, Jounen finally understood the urgency of his situation: once his short time with two open chakra gates ended, he would be completely out of chakra, exhausted, hurting everywhere, and most certainly defeated, unless he could beat the Earth shinobi first! It aggravated him to realize that an Earth-style shinobi could keep up with him, a highly skilled ninja of the wind-nature.

"What clan are you from!?

Come now and we will end this!"

Jounen attacked barehanded without weapons and so did Pedro.

"Namikaze clan!" responded Pedro, at the time when their fists and their kicks clashed.

(He was really an Anbu shinobi from the Clan of the Stone, however his true allegiance was always for his original village, which joined the Clan of the Stone.)

Jounen was desperate for finishing the Earth ninja before his time ran out, so he used wind manipulation to attempt a cheap hit. And then, it happened! Both finally managed to land a kick, and since both had open chakra flows it was a truly lethal kick.

Pedro's kick landed on Jounen's right arm and Jounen managed to hit him on his rib area. Jounen felt great pain on his arm and shoulder. Pedro knew that he had at least one broken bone. The time was nearly over for their chakra gates to close on their own. And both felt to the ground after the lethal hits. However, one managed to stand up and grabbed the katana from the ground. It was Jounen.

When he knew that his chakra gates were about to get closed, Jounen grabbed Pedro's neck with his injured arm and raised his katana with the other.

"I haven't been pushed this far in years, but I win at the end. Good bye Earth ninja from the Namikaze clan that I never heard about!"

Before he could finish, Carl yelled his name:

"Jounen!" And, swiftly, he launched a kunai from the ground straight at Jounen's face!

Jounen dodged it by a bare centimeter, but right when he did it, all of his chakra left him and he felt a sharp and painful sword, as it penetrated his stomach. It was Carl's sword, in the hands of Pedro. Carl had thrown the kunai and also threw his sword towards Pedro. Jounen never noticed that Carl was nearby, but Pedro knew from the moment he felt the ground where he had fallen. It was extremely close to where he made his Earth wall shield from before to stop the fire vortexes. He knew Carl was still there and he, purposefully, let himself fall in a position where it would be easy for Carl to attack Jounen if Carl could move. Jounen had already discarded Carl as finished, but Pedro considered that Carl was there.

Jounen fell to the ground and, in serious pain, removed the sword from his body and dropped it. He couldn't move anymore. He thought he was going to die there, but the pain of losing was much worse to him. Unfortunately for him, it was not his time yet and this was not the place where he would die.

The water ninja from his group returned and grabbed him, leaving all the others behind and escaping. Kenn tried to do something, but he was too far. Carl and Pedro couldn't even stand up.

Pedro's chakra gate also closed and he started to feel that he was losing consciousness. It had been a very long time since he had to use such a thing.

From the village's side, he started to feel and hear people running towards them, while everything in his field of vision started to fade away…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Love


	4. Chapter 4: Love

**CHAPTER 4: Love**

Pedro Namikaze opened his eyes and he felt how he began to regain his eyesight and his consciousness. He was lying on a bed, inside a large cabin that had many other beds. It looked like a medical place. He saw a light, the soothing light of sunshine, very close to his bed. Clearly, the entrance to the place was very close to him.

Suddenly, he felt the urge to stand up and walk out to the sunshine. When he began to move slowly to sit down, he felt serious pain; he could barely move his torso. Just sitting down felt like a struggle. He realized that his clothes had been changed—he was wearing white clothes now, before he had a black Anbu jacket and the orange cape. He also had bandages all over: on his forehead, on one arm and one leg, and around his rib cage area. It felt like he had been on the bed for a couple of days. He felt the necessity to walk and see the sunshine from the outside.

There was something that looked like a thin walking stick close to his bed. He grabbed it and used it to stand up. Kenn and Carl were lying on beds nearby, but they weren't awake; and most of the other beds were empty. He walked slowly past the entrance and took an invigorating deep breath. His rib area was still hurting, but he felt better now.

Then, he heard it for the first time. It was a beautiful music, the most beautiful and relaxing music that he had ever heard. It came with the wind and made him feel rejuvenated with the sound of every tune that followed. It was a fascinating melody; and it was coming from a close place. He could see that there was someone playing the melody from a piano nearby. He began to walk in that direction when two nurses stopped him:

"Hey! You shouldn't be here, you need more time to recover!" said the old one.

"You will be better in your bed than going there anyways," said the younger one, with a facial expression that made it obvious that she didn't recommend approaching the one playing the melody.

"Let me stay here; I feel better now and feel that the relaxing wind and the sunshine here will help me."

The nurses didn't want to force the stranger and they were informed about what he had done; thus, they allowed him to stay there. The young one also smiled at him very nicely and said, "thank you for what you did," while she entered the cabin.

He, however, couldn't forget the music, so he ended up walking slowly—with the help of the walking stick—towards where the piano was. Along the way, he noticed that there were other people in the village, both adults and several kids. However, no one, not a single one, was close to the piano player. This didn't make any sense to him. The woman that was playing the melody seemed normal and was quite talented. Why was no one else there to listen to her close to the piano?

"May be they don't like the music," he thought; but he quickly realized that could not be possible.

Finally, he came within four meters of the piano and stood there to enjoy the music. He could see her sideways, while she used her hands on the keys. The pianist had beautiful long black hair and she seemed to be around the same age as him—in her twenty's. The tunes seemed to flow from her as she played the melody with her eyes closed. Then, she finished and she stopped playing. She placed her hands on her lap and smiled.

Pedro wanted to give her a serious applause, but he couldn't because he needed to hold the stick with one hand to be able to stand. Regardless, he managed to give her a less prominent clapping for her performance using his other hand on his busy arm. For a while there, she had made him forget about his pain with her music.

"Amazing… simply amazing!" he told her.

"You think so?" she asked, and she smiled once more with her eyes still closed. She already knew he was standing there, even though her eyes had been closed the whole time.

"Of course," he answered with certainty, but he was beginning to wonder how was it that she knew he had been there if she had not seen him yet. The tone in her voice made it obvious that she already knew about his presence, even before he clapped. Actually, this was what motivated her to give a great finish to her melody.

At last, she moved to the side of her chair, facing Pedro directly, and opened her eyes.

Seeing her eyes for the first time, from a close distance, was shocking for him. Her pupils were completely red and, in both eyes, they were surrounded by three red things that looked like blood-colored commas. At first glance, they looked like the eyes of a demon. There was something about those red eyes that didn't look human.

She stopped smiling and Pedro realized that he must have shown her a pretty bad facial expression when he saw how her eyes looked.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to…"

She interrupted him before he could finish:

"It's ok, you have handled it well. Most people would find an excuse to leave now, and you are saying that you are sorry."

She smiled once again—it was a strange sight because even though she had demonic eyes, her body language, her voice, and her nice smile gave him a sense of peace and vibes of a very friendly and unique individual.

"Are you the foreigner that helped Carl and Kenn to stop the attackers?"

"Yes, I am. My name is Pedro, Pedro Namikaze from the Namikaze clan."

"Nice to meet you Pedro. I am Maida. I used to be from the Uchiha clan, but I have been living in this village for years now."

Pedro felt how the pain started to come back to him all of a sudden. He certainly had some fracture from the last battle or they had operated on him in the village while he was not conscious. He touched his right rib area with his left hand, while he held the stick with the other one. He had blood there, outside of the bandages, and it was not there when he woke up in the medical cabin. Apparently, he really had overdone it by walking all the way there to listen to Maida.

She noticed it pretty quickly, even before he made any obvious gesture that would give up the fact that he was feeling pain. It was as if she could read his mind:

"You are hurt!" she said with a worried voice as she jumped from the chair and came close to him. She quickly placed her hands near the side where he had blood and started to use some sort of medical ninjutsu to heal him. She was a medical ninja and those eyes were very likely to be the sharingans in their awakened state. Then, Pedro realized who she was.

"You must be Madara's grand-daughter," said Pedro to Maida.

She responded with a slightly sad voice:

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't, so that no one would associate me with him."

She looked at him with her dreadful sharingan eyes, which allowed her to see more than what a normal person perceives with their normal eyes. He was uneasy about the way her eyes looked, but he was different than others because he was trying to ignore it; and he wasn't thinking of her as if she was just "Madara's offspring." He truthfully was seeing her more for who she really was—which was something that she wasn't used to. Most people tried to avoid close contact with her after they saw her eyes or if they knew she was from Madara's bloodline. That was the case even if they also knew that she wasn't a bad person. The truth was that Madara's stigma and the mark of her sharingan had burdened her during her whole life.

"My grandfather was an evil man. He never cared about my mother, he killed many, and he was at the center of many clan wars and conflicts. His name is not well-received and many feared the grand power of his sharingan eyes. They know I am not like him, but they still fear my eyes, even though I have told them that I can't do anything extraordinary with them."

Then, the sad look in her face faded away because she had a happy thought. Then, she continued:

"Well, except seeing who people really are and fragments of their thoughts, I can only do healing ninjutsu techniques."

She smiled. And Pedro realized then that she probably knew what he had been thinking since he stood there and listened to her music. May be, she always knew he was there listening to her, even though she had her eyes closed.

He truly tried to ignore the seemingly evil look of the blood-red sharingan marks on her eyes, and it was difficult. However, everything else about her felt almost like a blessing: her melody, her kind nature, and her smile. He took his eyes away from her sharingans and tried to just look at her smile. Then, he smiled too. Despite those eyes, he really had not met anyone like her in a very long time.

Seeing this thought made her happy. She had not met anyone like him in a long time as well. Most of the last people she had met couldn't look at her past the gaze of her sharingans. He was different. And she felt that she could talk more with him than with others.

"I can't even do genjutsu," she added.

(Genjutsu is one of the three types of special ninja techniques in Naruto, which are: ninjutsu, or the jutsu techniques based on the user's natural affinity; taijutsu, such as the open chakra gates mode, which is based on using the body's full potential as a weapon; and genjutsu, which can only be used by those with special eye powers—mostly the Uchihas or anyone who has a sharingan eye, even if they are not an Uchiha… there is also sage ninjutsu, which is a special type of ninjutsu that is connected with nature itself and that very few ninjas possessed in the world of Naruto.)

"That's good to hear, it would be sad to think that your music could have been an illusion from genjutsu," joked Pedro.

Maida laughed at his funny idea and stopped using her healing technique on him.

At that very moment, the pain returned and he realized that he was barely touching the walking stick anymore. He quickly grabbed it, but felt that he was losing balance so he also placed his right foot on the side of the stick. And then, they heard the quick "crack!" The stick broke!

Quickly, Maida grabbed him and placed his right arm over her.

"Oh, that was close," she said.

"Yeah," answered Pedro while he gasped.

"I will take you to the medical cabin."

"Thank you Maida."

"No, thank you for listening."

Maida smiled again. When he saw her smile so close to him, he couldn't help but smile back at her.

Slowly, they went back to the cabin until she finally helped him to sit on his bed.

Then, the young nurse from before asked Maida to leave in a somewhat rude tone, which Pedro didn't like. Right after, and in front of two other nurses, she asked him:

"Mr. Namikaze, who do you want to be your nurse until you recover? Whoever you pick will be assigned to you only and the other nurses will take care of the others."

She sounded almost flirtatious and made it seem sort of obvious that she was expecting to be the one in charge of his recovery. However, he chose differently:

"I want the one who is about to leave the entrance to be the one that helps me to recover."

He pointed towards Maida.

"She!?"

The young nurse was shocked. Why would he prefer that freak with crazy eyes?

Maida heard him and looked back at them.

She was also surprised. There was someone who wanted her to help, rather than one of the other prettier ladies with beautiful normal eyes.

"But she isn't a nurse here, she can't!"

The nurse looked very agitated.

"Does anyone here know medical ninjutsu?" asked Pedro. And the answer was obvious.

"No, but we have what we need."

"I appreciate your concern, but what I need now is a medical ninja. Healing ninjutsu works better and faster than bandages and anything else. That is what I need."

The nurse didn't like it, but she had to accept it and she left a little disappointed. The other nurse, who was in charge of the place, was skeptical about Maida, but she knew that Pedro was right about medical ninjutsu and that they were, in fact, lowering their quality by not having Maida in their infirmary. Then, she placed Maida in charge of Pedro's full recovery. He had requested it himself, so she saw no harm in that.

As the days and the weeks went by, they grew closer and closer together. Maida loved taking care of him and talking to him; and he loved her music and the way she was. He had found in her a woman who was not like any other he had met before; and she had met someone who didn't judge her based on her eyes or her ancestors.

Little by little, her eyes started to bother him less and less. And he felt that he started to care about her and her wellbeing—just as much as she cared about his recovery. He didn't want to see her isolated anymore. She was great and he wanted the other people in the village to realize that too. Thus, he started to bring some of the kids to listen to her music, and he made sure that as many people as possible would see her while she was using her medical ninja skills to help him and others.

What he did led many of the villagers to change their opinions and their hidden fear about her. In particular, the ones who needed healing started to go see her, since it was clear that no one there could help them more than her. She and Kenn had arrived at the village ten years ago, and the village's elder chief had welcomed them, but, because of her eyes, Maida had not been able to establish strong bonds with anyone there. No one, besides Kenn, wanted to spend too much time with her… no one, until now…

Three weeks and a couple of days went by since Pedro woke up on the bed, after the battle with Jounen. He was now fully recovered as if nothing had happened, thanks to Maida. He had met others in the village and got to know the place pretty well. Maida's red sharingans didn't bother him anymore. He and Maida had grown so close that, if you didn't know them, you would think they were a couple.

Naturally, Pedro's story had spread throughout the village. Everyone knew that Kenn and Carl had been able to beat a pretty dangerous rogue ninja because Pedro joined the battle and helped them. Some heard that he was headed towards The Leaf, but he ended up there first—and the rest was history.

He had announced that he would resume his journey to his destination after he was fully recovered. That day had finally arrived; and Maida was not there when he picked up the clothes he had when he arrived—his Anbu jacket and the orange cape had been fixed for him. He wanted to see her before leaving.

As he prepared himself, he began to feel that he was going to miss this village very much; and he knew that he was going to miss her. She had been very special for him.

At the entrance of the village, he had a farewell talk with Kenn, Carl, and others. Everyone thanked him. Then, the chief himself stepped forward and gave him a surprising proposal:

"If you want you can stay in this village. You are like one of us, and we all know that you deserted your clan. That's why you didn't bring your clan's headband."

Pedro thanked him, but he reiterated to the chief that seeing his original destination was important for him.

He could have left then, but he was making more time, hoping that he would see Maida one last time before leaving her village. The thought of never seeing her again saddened him.

Then, she arrived. He saw her walk through the group of people there and past the chief, until she stood there, right in front of him. She seemed worried and not very happy. At that moment, she looked at him and grabbed his hands.

"Pedro, I know that you don't want to leave. And I don't want you to leave either. Please stay here with us and with me. We can go to The Leaf together."

As she finished saying it all, she grabbed his hands harder, and a tear began to slip from one of her sharingan eyes.

He could perceive real love from her towards him and seeing that tear was heartbreaking for him. She probably knew already that he felt similarly about her.

This caring love and the peace that he felt in this village reminded him very much of his childhood at the Namikaze village, which had been destroyed during the wars. These were the reasons that made him decide to stay there, rather than resuming his journey to The Leaf.

"I will stay," he told her with a glad voice.

And, as her sad lips turned into a happy smile, he gently touched her face and wiped her tear away.

"I will be very happy if I stay at this village with you Maida."

They both smiled, and they kissed for the first time. It was not a passionate kiss, but it was a kiss full of the love of two people who cared very much about each other. It was the essence of what true love is.

"The Leaf can wait," he said to himself, once he realized that the love he had found there was more important for him.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Empowerment for All


	5. Chapter 5: Empowerment for All

**CHAPTER 5: Empowerment for All**

Pedro Namikaze joined the small village permanently and became one of them. His union with Maida, her hospitality, and her healing techniques, made most of the villagers change their minds about her, despite the eyes she had.

There were harmony, love, and peace in his life, but, despite all these blessings, he also had new worries. He saw this new village as his home, so he began to feel concerned about the people there and about their future.

He noticed that there were no upper level ninjas in the village. He was the only one that would be ready for a special Anbu-level squad, which was a position given to many of the most skilled shinobi from the large clans. However, he knew that there were rogue ninjas out there that were powerful enough to beat a squad of Anbus like himself. Jounen was not one of those, but he clearly was above his Anbu-level.

He had heard stories about some of those mighty rogue ninjas who had even fought with the Kages.

(The Kages are the chiefs, or leaders, of the large ninja clans in Naruto's world. They rule over clans and lands that are the equivalent of various cities in size. They have different names, depending on their clan. The Hokages are the Kages that have led The Leaf since its beginnings. The current Hokage at The Leaf is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage.

The Kages are typically among the most powerful shinobi in their land. They are also the chiefs in charge of the Anbu-level squads in their clans.)

Madara Uchiha was one of those legendary rogue ninjas that fought with Kages. His battles with the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, were legends in their shinobi world. (This is why they were famous and well-known in Naruto's world.)

Jounen was certainly not one of those rogue ninjas, but he was above the Anbu level. The truth is that Pedro had been lucky, and he knew it. If things had been a little different or if Jounen had been smarter, he could have been dead. That battle made him realize his current limitations and the importance of overcoming them. It also became clear to him that the village was not ready for a major conflict or, even worse, for being involved in one of the wars—and ninja wars were not truly over yet, the last one had ended, but the conflicts among the major clans were still alive; and only The Leaf's clan was known for supporting peace, the others were more war-like. He feared that this village could be wiped out if something like that happened again in the future. It had already happened to the small Namikaze clan, even though the ninjas there were much more skilled than the ones at this village.

After thinking about these things, Pedro felt the need to share his special ninja techniques with the rest of the village that had brought him what was missing from his life—a peaceful community where love and a family life were possible. He also felt the need to take his ninja level to new heights, just in case he had to face others like Jounen once again. He decided that he was going to train himself on a daily basis, until he could surpass his current level. He had to improve the power of his Earth-style techniques, practice his close and long range combat, and learn how to open a second chakra gate, or even more. However, he knew that he alone wasn't enough; more had to be done for the village's sake…

He managed to convince the chief after a very long talk. The old chief understood their position very well. He decided to reform activities at the village because he was also concerned about the way things were and the lack of preparation they had. The few skilled ninjas at the village would teach their jutsus and techniques to others, especially to the younger ones. They would determine the ones best-fit to learn certain techniques and would place them under the supervision of the one that could teach them. Above all, they would motivate and empower everyone at the village to find their natural strengths, as ninjas, and to become more skilled at those, with the help of others and even on their own.

Both, the chief and Pedro Namikaze, had a very clear vision. Then, chief Barton decided to do something else that he had not done before—may be because he was afraid that it would raise the chances of conflict for his village—but his mind was clear, and he knew it had to be done:

"Tomorrow, I am going to send out our messenger with one special letter that I will write today. I will send a letter to the Third Hokage, requesting his permission for our village to join his clan and for our people to become Leaf shinobi and wear The Leaf's headband. I know that is where you wanted to go from the start Pedro, and I believe it is best for our future if everyone here joins The Leaf too."

Pedro could barely contain his emotion!

This was the solution to the worries he had.

The entire village would join The Leaf!

"Thank you chief Barton! This is a wise choice for everyone!"

Pedro's enthusiasm was off the limits. He knew that if they were part of The Leaf, the village would be trained and protected by many other shinobi like himself.

"Let me go to deliver the letter."

Barton had to stop him on his tracks:

"You can't be the one Pedro; it has to be our messenger because The Leaf's Anbu squad that guards their village's perimeter would not recognize you. They patrol the perimeter one mile before reaching The Leaf, so you wouldn't be able to reach the entrance before one of them sees you. They know our messenger and will let him through. Anyone else will be stopped by them, may be even killed if they perceive any attempt to fight them back."

These were interesting news for Pedro. He didn't know anything about this.

"So, you guys already had contact with The Leaf?"

"Yes, but very rarely since our first formal talk. Many years ago, when I was about your age and after my father initiated this village, we had a talk in person with the Third Hokage and with two Anbu squads from The Leaf. Back then, my father didn't want to join them, but he wanted to live here peacefully. The Third allowed it, but we also had to agree to his conditions. One of them was that if we were not going to be Leaf shinobi, then we could not penetrate their perimeter and we had to keep them informed of anything that happened in our vicinity. Then, they picked two of our kids to be messengers for them and no others would be allowed to go through their limits. Also, every three months some of their Anbu come here to gather any information we have."

The information sounded good for Pedro.

The Leaf seemed like a pretty powerful clan, it was good to know that they were closer to the good side, and that he and the others were going to join them soon. However, he felt that he still knew little about The Leaf.

"How did communications go with them after that agreement you had years ago?"

"They kept their word of not interfering with us and we kept ours. Every three months some of them came and once in a while, we would send one of the messengers with information for them. The truth is that they were good with us; they could have forced my father to choose between joining them or leaving this place, and they didn't do that. The Third may be a powerful ninja, but he seemed like a good man and a good leader as well. I believe it was him who allowed us to stay here. It's been years now since the last time I talked to him."

Pedro was very satisfied with the chief's decision; and, deep down, Barton was also very glad that he had finally decided to do it. He knew that they should have joined The Leaf years ago. May be their village would have been much better today if he had taken that decision before, but this wasn't a time for regrets; it was the time to make the right decisions for the future.

The next day, the messenger left early and the chief had a talk with the whole village to motivate them for the new road ahead of them. Everyone had to be empowered to become better ninjas for themselves, for their families, and for the future of their village.

Pedro was chosen to teach his Earth-style techniques to those who seemed to have a natural affinity for the Earth-style, just like him. Maida was selected as the one who would teach current nurses and the younger girls about using healing ninjutsu. Kenn would teach double-weapon combat and fire-style techniques. Carl was the instructor for sword-based combat. And a couple others served as trainers for other groups. Chief Barton supervised the whole thing.

The teaching sessions at the village were only during the beginning of the day, so Pedro was able to start his own training during the afternoons. He would leave the village and practice on his own. He needed this to be able to use his jutsus at full power without damaging the land close to the village. He knew he had to train at his full potential if he wanted to reach the next level. He also wanted to experiment with his Earth-style jutsus, hoping to develop new ways to attack and defend with them.

One day, he stopped at a mountain, not too far from the village, and decided that this mountain was going to be his new training ground. He went there almost every day to train his ninjutsu techniques, his taijutsu chakra flow, and even his sword fighting. Often, he tried to combine all three. He knew he had the potential to raise his taijutsu to the next level, by opening the second of the body's chakra gates.

(There are eight chakra gates in total; opening each new one raises power, strength, and speed exponentially, but places an even greater strain on the body, especially after the chakra flow's time limit is over. It is said that those who open all eight gates gain godly power momentarily, but die just one minute after their chakra flow ends.)

He also knew that it was possible to empower jutsus via training of the user. Great users of the style had the potential to evolve current jutsus into more powerful forms, to combine them to form better attacks, and even to create new jutsus that were not used by other users of the same style.

Many things motivated him: the village, Maida, The Leaf—which accepted their request and scheduled a meeting at their village in two months to validate their alliance—and his own desire for a brighter and better future for all. At last, it felt like his dream of helping to make peace a reality was possible. He, The Leaf, and everyone would make it possible. He wasn't alone, there were many others whom would follow his same dream and The Leaf would help to make it a reality. Those thoughts gave him the drive to train hard every day to surpass his current level and to be the best Earth-style ninja that he could be. He wanted to ensure that The Leaf would recognize him as another great Anbu for the clan.

As the days went by, the people at the village improved and so did Pedro Namikaze. He trained at the mountain from before. He practiced all his Earth-style jutsus, his sword moves, and opening his first chakra gate and controlling it for short intervals—hoping that this control would facilitate his opening of the second one. He perfected and blended his use of the Earth grab, hold, and shoot jutsus to come up with new more powerful attacks, such as a sudden crash of nearby ground areas onto each other and around a large rock—which could have been an enemy. He learned how to make a portion of the ground rise or fall violently, along with anything that was on top of it. He named his new techniques the Earth-style Earth-crash, Earth-rise, and Earth-fall jutsus. He also learned to control the Earth shaper jutsu well enough to make more than a sword and a shield from it.

Finally, after much sacrifice and practice with controlling chakra flow with one open gate, he managed to open the second one. The second surge of chakra from having two gates open at the same time felt two—and sometimes even three—times as powerful as the first. After this, it made perfect sense why Jounen's kick had been so lethal to him; Jounen had two open chakra gates, not one, like he had. Furthermore, even though Pedro closed the two chakra gates just seconds after using them, he could feel that the toll this was taking on his body was worse than with one gate only. Clearly, this taijutsu technique was not his forte and it had to be used as a last resort. He began to understand why it was considered a "forbidden" technique by many, and why even even the great taijutsu master that he knew didn't want to teach him to open more than one gate. It all made sense now…

The time continued to go by, and there was only one week left for the union with The Leaf.

He could not have guessed what fate had in storage for him…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Ninjas of Catastrophe


	6. Chapter 6: Ninjas of Catastrophe

**CHAPTER 6: Ninjas of Catastrophe**

Jounen and Jaruko—the water-style ninja that saved him—had recovered from a major defeat. (It took Jounen longer to recover than Pedro because he had opened two chakra gates). They had also assembled a new ninja squad to do their dirty work. However, they weren't going back for revenge anytime soon, even though Jounen definitely felt that he wanted revenge badly. First, they wanted to retrieve the money from the two strange individuals whom had hired them to do the job. Those two had promised a great amount of cash for the sharingans. Jounen's group couldn't bring Madara's grand-daughter or her special eyes, but the job almost cost their lives. And they were going to get their pay out of these guys.

Jounen wanted revenge, but he was going to start with the ones that got him into the mess. And if they didn't want to pay him, then he and his squad would kill them on the spot.

He still remembered them well. They looked like shady characters, but they didn't seem powerful to him. On the contrary, he thought they looked like idiots with their custom ninja clothing. They didn't look particularly tough to him. Besides, the fact that they wanted to pay him for the job made him think that they weren't good enough to do it themselves. This way of thinking was no surprise; Jounen was a very arrogant ninja, even after his last major defeat.

He remembered them as if the day when they approached him had been yesterday:

Both had a black cloak with red clouds on. One had black hair and an orange mask that only showed his right eye. The mask had lines coming out from the hole around his eye and forming a spiral pattern that covered his whole face. The other guy was very white on the left side of his face and incredibly black on his right side. His skin colors were not normal-looking, the white side was white like paper and the black side was purely black like outer space. He almost looked like two different people in the same person because of how different his two sides were. He also had yellow eyes, green hair, and a seemingly lifeless look in the dark side.

They looked creepy, but neither of them seemed particularly strong and they were paying for the job, rather than doing it themselves. Therefore, Jounen never thought of them as a threat. He chose to see them as two clowns that he could take advantage of, since he was planning to take both things from them anyways—the sharingans and the money. He knew where their hideout was, so they would not be able to hide from him.

Jounen, Jaruko, and the rest—which were twenty more ninjas—went to meet these two unknown clients at their secluded hideout, which was the location where they were told to deliver the sharingan eyes of the girl that had them. Everyone was armed to the teeth with explosive knives, sharp shurikens, swords, and more. Jounen was ready to start his revenge with a fat paycheck—or so he thought.

The green haired guy and the one with the orange mask were there when they arrived, but there was a third one too. The third was completely white from head to toes—the same paper-white as the two-sided one—and had no hair anywhere. It looked like he was also wearing the same mask as the other one—revealing only a hole for the right eye and showing a spiral pattern—but his mask was white, not orange.

The three rogue ninjas perceived them right away. In a way, it seemed as if they already knew they were coming, but Jounen didn't pay much attention to these clues.

"Hello there, I believe you didn't meet our friend here last time, his name is Spiral," said the green-haired one with a creepy and sarcastic voice. His two-sided face looked like it was going to smile from both sides. Spiral, on the other hand, showed no signs of facial gestures or emotions at all.

The one with the orange mask intervened quickly:

"Zetsu stop fooling around, let's go straight to what matters here. Jounen, you have taken far too long. Did you bring us the sharingans that we asked for? The ones that were always activated and that belonged to the Uchiha deserter from Madara's bloodline." Zetsu sounded sarcastic, but this guy's voice was deep and commanding. He certainly didn't seem this way when they came to offer the job. This angered Jounen, who made a quick hand signal to his group to prepare them for battle.

"We didn't bring you any special eyes, but we are here to get the payment that you promised us. It won't be in exchange for sharingans, but rather for your lives." Jounen raised his voice, purposefully, to sound tougher than the one that had the orange mask. Meanwhile, all his ninjas had scattered very quickly and they were surrounding Spiral, Zetsu, and the other rogue ninja.

Spiral scratched his bald white head.

"They must have taken this long because they were deeefeeeaateeeed, hahaha; they clearly aren't very strong or smart." Spiral openly mocked them with a comic and burlesque voice. And the worst part was that his statement was right. This mockery got everyone angry and ready to finish them! After all, they were pretty good mercenary ninjas and they were not used to getting this sort of talk from anyone.

"As you wish, we will start with you!" yelled Jounen, and then, the furious clash began.

Jounen unsheathed his two blades and threw them in front of himself with a spinning motion.

"Wind-style wind twirler jutsu!"

He pointed the two spinning blades at Spiral's eye and launched them with incredible momentum. All the other ninjas in his squad launched two of their explosive knives at Spiral from all directions, but all three—Spiral, Zetsu, and the masked guy—were together at the center, so the barrage of attacks was certain to reach and finish all three. Everything happened very fast, so there was barely any time to react, and certainly no easy way to go past the squad that surrounded them.

The explosions covered the center of the hideout in smoke and the sight of Jounen's spinning blades was lost, but they were going straight for Spiral. Everyone waited to see the three challengers dead, but no screams were heard and, naturally, Jounen's men were already asking themselves how could that be possible after having contact with so many knives and explosions from everywhere.

When the smoke dissipated, the surprises began!

Jounen's two blades were impaled in a large wooden branch that had been raised in front of Spiral, and many other strong-looking branches had grown from the ground around Spiral to protect him completely from all attacks and explosions. He had used some strange and extremely rare wood-style jutsu. This kind of thing was unheard of since the time of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who was a master user of the wood-type jutsus, which could not be learned or taught because they were linked to the person's bloodline; therefore, only a selected few could use them. Seeing this was surprising, but it was not the biggest shocker.

The ninja of the orange mask didn't move from where he was and there was nothing protecting him, but he looked completely unharmed. It was as if nothing had happened to him—and that was the case indeed. There was only one noticeable change that Jaruko, the water ninja, was able to see: the right eye of the guy—which was the only thing that his orange mask revealed—was red like blood and it had a black shuriken-like shape in the center. That eye looked diabolical and, clearly, he had used it to do something that no one saw.

Standing besides Jounen, Jaruko whispered: "Jounen, I think this guy has an awakened sharingan eye, we are not ready to fight genjutsu techniques and…" Jaruko was starting to feel fear, but then he noticed Zetsu, the green haired one, was nowhere to be seen! Things were not looking good at all.

Jounen reacted when he noticed that his men's confidence was starting to waive after the new sight. He was not going to let these clowns and their tricks beat him under any circumstance.

"You have your special jutsus and we have ours!"

He grabbed Jaruko's arm and whispered to him, "launch your strongest water attack through my wind tornado," then he pushed Jaruko to the side and prepared his special technique even faster than how he did it before—at the battle versus the Earth ninja.

"Wind-style tornado jutsu!"

The cutting winds were aimed at the sharingan user and Spiral.

Then, Jaruko joined:

"Water-style twisting stream jutsu!"

The other ninjas also threw their remaining explosive knives at the enemies.

The onslaught of cutting winds, wild waters, and burning explosions almost reached the ones that launched it, so it had to reach those freaks as well. There was no way out this time—at least, that's what Jounen's men thought.

After the dark winds, the explosions, and the water scattered, the masked guy was still there with his sharingan even brighter than before. The floor had knives everywhere around him, but he looked unharmed. He looked at Jaruko.

"You are wrong. This eye of mine is not a simple awakened sharingan, it is a mangekyou sharingan. I underwent a second awakening after the first. This is the true power of my sharingan eyes, which surpasses that of normal sharingans."

He said that to Jaruko and then he turned his eye to Jounen.

"You can't take anything from us, but we can take your lives after this defiance. Yours in particular, Jounen. If you had just brought me what I asked for, you would have had a chance." The masked guy sounded like he had unshakable confidence about his power and complete certainty of victory.

Then, a really annoying—almost robotic-sounding—voice came from the ceiling straight above Jounen and Jaruko.

"Oh don't lie! We probably were going to kill them anyways, neither you nor I or Zet have any cash in storage here," said Spiral. The creepy and masked white being was, apparently, glued to the ceiling with wood walls covering his surroundings. He had avoided the tornado and the barrage of attacks altogether!

"Shut up Spiral!" yelled Zetsu from the entrance of the hideout.

"Take this seriously even if it is not much of a challenge for you! Remember what your task here is!" Zetsu looked aggravated. (He had given Spiral orders and guidelines on how to behave and what he could say, but Spiral was doing things his way.)

All of a sudden, Zetsu's voice had changed from sarcastic to violent. He had a particularly evil vibe now that made him look more dangerous than the other two (and he was indeed the most dangerous one). Things got even worse when Jounen's men realized that Zetsu had been blocking the entrance all this time. He would ensure that no one would be able to leave. Some started to panick at the realization of the situation.

Jounen was also starting to worry. Things began to feel just like his last battle outside of the village, but even worse. These guys looked unharmed! At least, the other three he fought by himself barely made it alive. This assault had been turned into a fight for survival almost in an instant. Who were these rogue ninjas?! They were not affiliated to any major clan or any village.

Quickly, Jounen began to think about escaping and using his squad as distraction once more.

"Jutsus don't work! Use your knives, shurikens, and swords! Pierce through them!"

He hoped to make an escape while the two extravagant enemies in the center of the hideout were busy fighting the others. He only had to go through the one at the entrance.

His two blades were stuck in the tree branches created by Spiral, so he grabbed his two non-explosive knives and prepared for close-range battle:

"Wind-style air blades jutsu!"

An invisible blade of sharp winds extended from his knives, giving him the range of attack of two long swords, while he only used—and opponents only saw—the two knives on his hands. He was ready to cut through Zetsu to make an opening and to take him out too. Deep down, he knew he wanted to take him out before escaping. Without wasting any time, Jounen headed towards the entrance.

Spiral dropped himself from the tall ceiling to the ground and when he stopped the fall barehanded, his left arm fell off. He quickly grabbed it and placed it back on the right place. The hand united itself with the shoulder right away. It was clear now that this one wasn't human. Out of fear, the nearby ninjas began to attack him desperately with knives and shurikens, but he raised his wood shields and new tree branches grew from the ground to cover him. Then, the same branches continued growing underneath the ninjas and broke the ground beneath them to grab and trap each one. Spiral walked towards them and looked at them. Then, he raised his hands and another growth of wild branches followed, this time aimed directly at the trapped ninjas. This was the end for all of them.

Another group attacked the masked Uchiha and what they saw left them speechless: he used his sharingan to create a large vortex coming from his eye that sucked in all of their shurikens and knives. Then, he did the same thing again, but this time their shurikens and knives came flying from his eye's vortex towards them! He took out half of them with that attack. Right away, he attacked the others:

"Fire-style fire curtain jutsu!"

He released a large curtain of fire and broke it into pieces that went after his attackers. Most were caught, but this wasn't quite enough and he knew it:

"Fire-style Katon fireball jutsu!"

The large ball of flames took care of everyone in this group, except Jaruko, who had used a large water-based shield to cover.

There was no time to prepare or do any jutsu and the masked man's fire techniques were certainly more powerful than his water attacks, so he unsheathed his sword and charged at him quickly. It seemed like it would work because the masked one had no visible sword or knives. He had no time for other fire jutsus either because Jaruko's sword would reach him before that. However, when Jaruko looked straight at his eye, he started to feel great difficulty to move his sword and his body, until he couldn't take another step. He felt frozen on the spot.

"What is happening!?" He yelled frustrated, but then he realized that he had looked at the eye and it was too late.

"This is the power of genjutsu, the ability of sharingans that can be used to change what other people perceive and how they perceive it. I have a mangekyou sharingan, so my genjutsu is more powerful. There is nothing wrong with you, but you won't be able to escape from my genjutsu on your own and there is no one left to wake you up from it."

The eye beneath the mask took the shape of the advanced sharingan, and he used his unique ability again. The fierce eye created a vortex and two large shurikens came flying from it. This was the end for Jounen's pal.

Jounen knew the two at the center would be busy with his squad, so he went straight for Zetsu with everything he had. He even started preparing himself to open a chakra gate to boost his power and speed. He was fast and ferocious with his invisible blades of wind and his knives. Even though Zetsu dodged him several times, he managed to cut him twice—both times on the white side.

Then, Zetsu stopped and so did Jounen. They were a few meters away from each other.

Jounen used this little time to open his first chakra gate. He was capable of escaping now, but he wanted to take out Zetsu first. Seeing how Zetsu stopped for a while gave him confidence that he could do it quickly.

Black Zetsu whispered to the white side:

"What happens White Zetsu? It's been a while since someone managed to reach you like this. Should I call you by your old name to remind you of who you are?" The end of his whispering had a slightly threatening vibe in it.

White Zetsu felt angry, but there was something stopping him from unleashing that anger:

"Shut up and be on my side; you know I would be much faster if you were not controlling me now. I am sure that you don't want me to call you by your old name either, so don't say mine. Let's take him seriously. Let me do in this battle as I wish. It shall be fun."

White Zetsu was the one that gave the biggest evil vibe when he was serious. And this time he was.

Jounen's chakra gate made him faster and stronger, but Zetsu's speed and power had also increased. They fought in close combat for a couple of minutes until Zetsu landed three strikes on Jounen. The last one cut him badly, but he had not seen Zetsu strike him directly. It made no sense; Zetsu had no knives; he had not done any wind-style jutsu to make air blades; he had not had any chance to perform any jutsu at all; and he didn't seem to have open chakra gates either.

"How did you do this!?" yelled Jounen in frustration, since he didn't even see how he got cut.

"It is called sage chakra. It is something that is beyond what you know, but I can use it to make wind blades like the two you have there. I don't need a jutsu for it because, unlike you, I have nature's force on my side."

Zetsu's two sides smiled menacingly. And his sarcastic tone from before returned:

"Now look over there, it seems like time is up for you Jounen. Thank you for the warm up."

Zetsu pointed to the center of the place with both his black hand and his white hand.

Jounen took a quick look and saw that Spiral and the masked guy were standing, but no one else was. His whole squad of twenty-one ninjas was gone. The situation was far worse than he had imagined.

In desperation, he opened his second chakra gate. Then, he tried to free the entrance from Zetsu with his best jutsu at full power to escape before the other two could join—which would be his end for sure.

"Wind-style tornado jutsu!"

However, Zetsu counterattacked in an unexpected way. First, Black Zetsu separated himself from White Zetsu's body, revealing that the black side was not half of Zetsu's body, but it occupied that half when they were together. Then, Black Zetsu slipped through the ground, almost like a liquid mass that goes through the cracks, and grabbed Jounen from underneath, without him noticing anything because he was too busy starting his tornado. Then, White Zetsu attacked:

"Wind-style tornado jutsu!"

The two wind barrages clashed and cancelled each other out. By the time Jounen realized where Black Zetsu was, he had already drained his body's chakra. Jounen lost the chakra flow from the gates as well, and he could not move—not only was he left without chakra, Black Zetsu was also holding him in place. He could feel that something was controlling him and that his body chose to stay still because that force made him do it.

Jounen felt something that he had not felt in years. Fear. This was going to be the end for him. He could see it coming. And there was nothing he could do, besides talking to them, but that was not his expertise.

"Who are you!? What are you?" said Jounen with his last breath. He was looking straight at White Zetsu.

Black Zetsu knew Jounen was too weak now to do anything else, so he let go of him and joined back with White Zetsu by covering the right side of his body. Once they were together, both smiled. Zetsu saw that the other two were not close to them yet, so he reached for Jounen's ear and whispered his answer:

"We are the son and the brother of the one who created this world of shinobi. We were once humans just like you. Soon I…" White Zetsu stopped talking abruptly and Black Zetsu took over and continued, "…I will have what is rightfully mine."

Zetsu smiled once again, but it was not clear whether White Zetsu or Black Zetsu was the one smiling after the last words. Black Zetsu had the power to control other bodies that he joined with, so it was likely to be him, but no one knew that fact besides White Zetsu and Spiral. No one truly knew who the real mastermind was. The masked guy believed that it was him, but this was part of Zetsu's plan.

Then, all of a sudden, two blades impaled Jounen from the back.

"You are welcome. Isn't that what humans say when they get back something that was theirs?"

Spiral was holding Jounen's two blades—the ones that he had thrown straight at him before.

Then, the sharingan user appeared right in front of Jounen, using his eye's teleportation technique on himself.

"No Spiral, we say thank you. And Jounen, this is what you get for defying Madara Uchiha."

He closed Jounen's eyes afterwards.

"Are we done with this mess now? Uff, look at how much cleaning is needed in this place!" complained Spiral with his annoying robot-like voice. Zetsu answered him:

"No, we will have to look for that Uchiha descendant of the 'real' Madara." Zetsu moved his eyes back to the Uchiha of the orange mask—whom wasn't the real Madara, although he pretended to be him in many occasions to advance his and Zetsu's goals.

"I received information from the clone I sent after Jounen, and he wasn't lying to us. There is an Uchiha girl in that village and she does have sharingans that are always activated. That means that she must be Madara's descendant too. Her eyes can be very useful for our cause."

The masked guy didn't look very happy about that decision.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Special Sharingan


	7. Chapter 7: The Special Sharingan

**CHAPTER 7: The Special Sharingan**

The Uchiha of the orange mask didn't want to waste time looking for someone else's sharingans; considering the colossal plan they had to fulfill and the incredibly dangerous tasks they had to complete for it, there was no time for this now. Clearly, he didn't know Zetsu's true plan, but he believed that he was in charge and that Zetsu's only purpose was to help him fulfill Madara's "Eye of the Moon" plan, which included reviving Madara and changing the ninja world forever.

"Why do you want to go out of our way to get the sharingan eyes of a low-level shinobi like this girl? My mangekyou sharingans are surely more powerful than hers, and only my sharingan eyes can perform space-warp techniques that grant temporary invulnerability to attacks. We don't need another Uchiha."

The masked man crossed his arms, looked straight at Black and White Zetsu, and stated things strongly, as if he was reprimanding them.

Black Zetsu answered first:

"You seem to be forgetting that you only have one of your mangekyou sharingans. When we saved your life, we had to get and implant a second sharingan on you because your left one was gone for good. It wasn't a special sharingan like yours, but we didn't want to have you half-blind around here. You will need another one if you want to be the one that completes the plan."

"Do you really think I need sharingans from someone who won't ever reach my level? You are underestimating me Black Zetsu. The only other eye that I need is Madara's left rinnegan eye, and once I get it I will have my mangekyou sharingan and a rinnegan. I will have the best of both worlds. Then, Madara will be revived and I will be able to finish our plan at last."

(The rinnegan eye is the ultimate transformation of the sharingan eye. These eyes are not red, they are completely violet and have black concentric circles around the pupil—which also turns violet. Mangekyou sharingans turn into rinnegans when the owner undergoes the final awakening of their sharingan. Only two people in the world of Naruto obtained the rinnegan via self-awakening of it: Madara Uchiha and the Sage of the Six Paths, also known as the creator of the ninja world. However, others are also capable of obtaining the rinnegan's power if it is implanted on them via a technique of organ transplants that only high-level medical ninjas can perform.)

Spiral touched the masked man's right shoulder with one finger, as if he was a kid that wasn't sure about whether it was good for him to say something or not.

"As you already know, the first form of the sharingan and its powers are common to all the Uchihas that awaken it, but the mangekyou form and its techniques are unique. What happens if the special techniques of that girl's mangekyou surpass yours?"

Spiral scratched his head with his other hand while he asked the question with his usual comic voice. He didn't sound smart, but his words revealed that he certainly wasn't the idiot that he portrayed himself as.

The masked man removed Spiral's finger from his shoulder before he answered. He was a little angry now:

"Don't be a fool! Only the most powerful of all Uchihas have awakened the mangekyou. A young medical ninja won't ever get such a thing!"

Spiral stayed quiet, but White Zetsu continued:

"The girl is not an ordinary Uchiha. She is Madara's only living descendant and may have inherited some of his eye powers too. We were created to fulfill Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi and his 'Eye of the Moon' plan that will change the world. Eventually, we will revive him to complete it. And when that moment comes, it would be good if this matter is settled. Madara would kill us if he finds out about it. You know I can judge the potential of a sharingan eye with my ability, so we will know if her sharingans are truly special or not."

For a second, the masked man was a little surprised. Spiral was a fool with power—this is what the masked guy believed, but it wasn't the whole truth. Black Zetsu always seemed to be one of Madara's living tools to fulfill the plan. However, he believed White Zetsu was smarter than the other two. So, it seemed a little strange that all three were in agreement. He could see they were right though. The reality was that if this girl had a special sharingan, just like her grandfather's, then getting one of those eyes would give him the remote possibility of getting a second rinnegan, even before Madara was revived. The odds were very low, but it was something worth trying. And Zetsu would know if her eyes matched Madara's, so they would know for sure.

White Zetsu noticed that Spiral was opening up his void head behind the masked Uchiha. (Spiral wasn't human. He could detach body parts and even open up his whole body and cover someone else's to possess their mind and use their body or to act as a very powerful living armor. He had done this to the masked Uchiha many times before—under Zetsu's orders—but he ensured that most of them were tweaked in his memory to make his recall convenient for them.) Spiral's two hands were also starting to open like two wild carnivorous plants getting ready to devour their prey. His intention was clear, so Zetsu gave him a signal to stop. The masked Uchiha was more powerful than before, so possessing him and manipulating him was not the smartest move now, unless it was necessary. Convincing him was preferred—at least by White Zetsu, who was the one that could control the alien being named Spiral. White Zetsu was also under someone else's control from time to time; thus, the one who was really calling the shots was Black Zetsu—especially when he was on White Zetsu's body. However, unlike Spiral, Black Zetsu was only capable of controlling others' bodies, he couldn't see or change their thoughts. Therefore, he didn't know that White Zetsu was also planning to be the one in charge at the end, so he was going along with Black Zetsu's plan.

(In this story, Black Zetsu is one of the brothers of the legendary Sage of the Six Paths and White Zetsu is his third son, whom's story was never told because his two older brothers, Asura and Indra, were better known than him always and they were also present in the human realm during their whole lives, while he was not. The past of both Black and White Zetsu and why they ended up this way is covered later in the Earth Sage's tale.)

The masked Uchiha saw White Zetsu as the more trustworthy of Madara's creations—they were not Madara's creations, but that was what they made him and Madara believe; he also believed that this was Madara's original plan, rather than just a part of Zetsu's grand scheme to put the new ninja world under his control.

He was certainly closer to agreeing with White Zetsu and the others about the girl, but there was something that he still considered more important, since two "special" sharingans were not the only thing required to complete the grand plan:

"Shouldn't we be hunting the nine bijuus and Madara's existing rinnegan to revive the Ten-Tails to perform Infinite Tsukuyomi?"

(The bijuus are nine giant tailed beasts—One-Tails, Two-Tails, and so on, until Nine-Tails—that possess inhuman amounts of chakra and great power. At one time, they were a single monstrous entity, known as the Ten-Tails. It was the Sage of the Six Paths who managed to defeat and control the Ten-Tails before it could destroy the world. With the help of one of his brothers—not Black Zetsu, but one that was good—he sealed the Ten-Tails within himself.

In Naruto's world, the large clans fought for the bijuus' power and managed to capture them. The nine bijuus were sealed within humans in the different clans, just like Hagaromo—the Sage of the Six Paths—did to control the Ten-Tails. The most powerful of the nine parts of Ten-Tails, the Nine-Tails, was sealed within Naruto at The Leaf by the Fourth Hokage, when it attacked and nearly destroyed The Leaf. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed his life during that attack to save The Leaf.

Initially, Ten-Tails was sealed within the Sage of the Six Paths, but he was forced to release it to ensure that a new threat would not be able to get such power from him. He chose to divide it into nine less monstrous entities and scatter them throughout the world. Only someone with his rinnegan eyes would be able to put them back together to have the power of Ten-Tails resurrected…

The "Eye of the Moon" plan aims to capture all nine bijuus to reawaken the Ten-Tails. Then, Ten-Tails and its limitless chakra would be sealed within one person once again. That person would gain godly power, just like the legendary sage, and if it is someone with two rinnegan eyes—like Hagaromo—he would also be able to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The Infinite Tsukuyomi is an eternal genjutsu technique that would change the world by putting everyone's perception of reality under the control of the caster. Basically, the caster would be a god.

The masked man expected this to be him in order to shape the new world to his liking, but he needed to revive Madara for the two rinnegan eyes that were necessary. Madara also expected he would be the caster of Infinite Tsukuyomi and planned everything before his real death to ensure it. Zetsu, however, had different plans and had been using all of them from the start. Despite their power, Black and White Zetsu never had sharingan eyes like Hagaromo, so they needed someone with special ones to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi for them.)

Zetsu answered the question to finally convince his masked ally:

"It would take us many years to capture the nine bijuus on our own. We can do it faster if we gather a team of the most powerful rogue ninjas and have them capture the nine jinchurikis for us (jinchurikis are the ones that have a tailed-beast sealed within; Naruto is a jinchuriki and the Sage of the Six Paths was the first one). The girl's sharingans can be useful for this task. We will have to convince our elite squad with some reward. A set of sharingans would do it for one of our members. And if these sharingans had the power to become rinnegans, we can keep them for you. Remember that when Madara is revived, you will have only one of his rinnegans; he will have the other one and will expect to get yours too. You need two rinnegans, just becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki won't ensure that you can cast Infinite Tsukuyomi."

The masked Uchiha thought about it. The truth was that he trusted White Zetsu more than the other two. And what he was saying made sense; it was even convenient for him. He knew that Zetsu was capable of assessing the potential of sharingan eyes, so they would know whether those were worth something or not. It sounded like a good deal with nothing to lose.

"Let's get it out of the way then," he said with his deep voice.

"Tomorrow, Zetsu and I will go visit the girl's village. I will use my mangekyou's space-teleportation technique to get us there faster. You will stay here Spiral and clean up the mess."

Afterwards, his red sharingan engulfed him and he left the hideout in the blink of an eye. Then, Zetsu—both of them, Black and White—and Spiral went outside, but the masked guy wasn't there; he went somewhere else.

Black Zetsu could bend and travel through part of the ground when he detached himself from White Zetsu's body. He did that and ensured that the masked Uchiha wasn't anywhere close to them. White Zetsu also had ways to do the same thing using his liquid Earth clones that, like Black Zetsu, were capable of travelling through the soil.

"Spiral, you won't possess him this time, not like the time when we helped Itachi to massacre all the other Uchihas at their clan."

Spiral laughed:

"Oh yes, I remember. You two inspected every single one of them. Only 5% of them had awakened sharingans and the two that had the mangekyous were not that powerful. The two Uchihas in our team were more powerful than the ones there. However, even they were not like Madara at his best."

Black Zetsu added:

"Madara Uchiha is still our best chance to have Infinite Tsukuyomi performed to finish my master plan. Besides my brother Hagaromo, he was the only one that truly awakened the rinnegans. No one else achieved it."

Spiral and Black Zetsu didn't sound like living beings that lacked intelligence anymore. Spiral still sounded a little annoying, but he clearly was as smart as the other two. Black Zetsu was acting as the mastermind of the plan. However, White Zetsu also sounded wiser, now that he wasn't acting to make the masked Uchiha believe that he was the real boss. In addition, no one knew what White Zetsu's true plan was since he controlled Spiral and Black Zetsu could use him, but not read what he had in mind. He joined the conversation:

"We might have other alternatives for potential rinnegans, or special sharingans. Apparently, not every single Uchiha lived at their clan, so we didn't kill all of them and we haven't seen all sharingan eyes. I don't expect much though. The only sharingans I ever inspected that had potential to become rinnegans were (masked guy's name)'s and Itachi's. However, this girl might surprise us. She is a descendant of Madara after all."

White Zetsu was the best liar ever. He was hiding another fact from them that was delivered to him by one of his Earth clones that saw the village: Maida's sharingans were always in their active state. White Zetsu didn't remember anyone who had their sharingan eyes activated at all times. Even the masked Uchiha and Madara changed their eye to their normal state after they used their sharingan's power. This was already a clue that told him there could be something special about that girl's sharingans.

Black Zetsu reassured them of the plan's prosperous path up to now:

"Of course, we will consider all the options available. We saved Madara's life just as he awakened the rinnegans, after his last battle with the First Hokage. We made him believe that we were his strong will and made him envision our plan as his own. He was too weak however. We had to keep him alive through various means, until we couldn't use him to fulfill our plan, at least not in that state. Despite being dead now, he will still be our best bet for success after his full revival. Just in case something goes wrong, we already have the other two Uchihas capable of awakening the rinnegan. Our masked friend is with us and Itachi Uchiha will be recruited for our squad of rogue elites. Now, we just need to capture the jinchurikis to get the nine bijuus from them. Without the Ten-Tails, the plan cannot be finished, even if there is someone with a special sharingan that we can use."

White Zetsu grabbed Spiral's head—Spiral was looking at the sky as if he wasn't listening—and made him look back down, then he told Spiral:

"Don't do anything foolish again while we leave you here. It is good if you play the 'fool' role, but don't go overboard with it."

"Again? What did I do now?!" Spiral sounded irritated.

"When we were finishing Jounen and his men, you called me Zet, my real name. No one is supposed to know that, except us. Our allies are not supposed to know that. We are Zetsu to them and they must never know that they are pawns to fulfill our plan. And only (masked man's name) must know about your existence for now, the others must never see you. Don't forget you are still alive because of me and I can terminate you now. Do you understand?"

White Zetsu sounded quite convincing.

Spiral reassured him, but it was obvious that he was still going to be himself anyways:

"Yes, yes, yes, no more Zeee… I won't separate Zet and Su again, like it used to be," answered Spiral.

Then, Black Zetsu talked:

"I don't want to hear my name from you either. No one will be suspicious because you called us Zet, but Su won't work. Don't say it again. Understood?"

Spiral made a "yes sir" signal with his head. He had gotten the message clearly, although, at times, even a being like him was fed up from taking orders from these two all the time. It was too bad that he could not escape from what Zet did to him during their battle at his realm, one hundred years ago…

The next day, Zetsu and the masked Uchiha were ready to pay a visit to Madara's grand-daughter at her small village. They made it pretty fast thanks to the teleportation technique of the mangekyou sharingan. In less than an hour, the masked guy and Zetsu appeared at a location not too far from the village. They knew Jounen had been defeated at that village, so there had to be at least one or two skilled shinobi there, but it didn't bother them at all. Jounen was no match for them.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Seekers of the Sharingan


	8. Chapter 8: Seekers of the Sharingan

**CHAPTER 8: Seekers of the Sharingan**

It was another usual afternoon at the village when the Uchiha of the orange mask and Zetsu arrived there:

Pedro was at the nearby mountain where he had been doing his trainings. Maida was at the medical cabins with the other nurses—she was now considered the "gifted" healer of the village. Kenn was still teaching his class. And Carl was doing gatekeeper duty with one of his students. Chief Barton was preparing papers and other things at his house for the encounter with the Third Hokage to unite his village with The Leaf's clan. The reunion was going to take place at the village in just two days.

Zetsu and his masked ally didn't do anything to cover themselves; they just walked calmly towards the entrance of the village. It didn't take long for Carl and the other guy to notice them. They asked them to identify themselves, but the two strangers didn't listen; and they definitely didn't look like good news either.

When they were close enough, Zetsu stood still.

"You can take care of them. I will watch from here."

The masked guy looked at White and Black Zetsu with a demeaning eye.

"Whatever suits you two. I will go ahead."

"Yes, watching is something that I have been doing for a long time. And we enjoy it just as much as fighting," said White and Black Zetsu while they smiled at their masked ally.

The Uchiha walked straight towards the second guard, whom quickly threw two knives at him. His red sharingan eye engulfed the knives and his body in a vortex that disappeared. This was when Carl realized that these guys were a serious threat. These unseen techniques and the fact that they didn't wear a headband of allegiance to any clan meant that they had to be high-level rogue ninjas like Jounen, or even worse.

The vortex appeared again behind the one that threw the knives; it revealed the red eye first, then the orange mask, and finally the whole body, but that wasn't all. After the masked ninja appeared behind his attacker, so did the knives that were thrown at him. They were now aimed at the guard though. By the time he turned around, he was struck by his own knives. Then, the vortex appeared once again on the guard himself and it brought an explosion that left the guard unconscious on the floor. During the dimensional teleportation technique, the masked man threw one of his own explosive shurikens, then he made himself appear first and both, his shuriken and the knives that were thrown at him appeared later in front of the guard.

Carl didn't hesitate when he saw this. He quickly launched his knife aimed at the button that activated the village's new alarm to warm others of an attack. Next, he grabbed his sword and started to attack the masked guy, but there was something wrong. His sword slashes were not landing! Two times he saw the sword go through the guy's arm as if it was air, and nothing happened! He had dodged all attacks and the ones that landed went straight through him as if he wasn't there! And indeed he wasn't.

(His sharingan's special technique was to teleport portions of the space around him to another place for a few seconds; only his sharingan could enter and exit that place. He was also capable of using the technique on himself and this was enough to give him invulnerability to attacks and jutsus for a few seconds. His image from his sharingan's place was visible, but his real self was not there during that second and that was why the attacks went through him. There was nothing there, just what he looked like at the other place.)

All of a sudden, Carl felt that he couldn't move at all. A black-looking thing was holding his legs and restraining his mobility. Black Zetsu had intervened; and White Zetsu was right there too. They were not together now.

"I thought you wanted to watch," said the masked Uchiha.

"We need to act quickly. With this loud alarm everyone knows we are here and our target may have a chance to escape," said White Zetsu, even though he knew that escape from them was very unlikely.

Then, he approached Carl:

"Where is the girl that has the sharingan eyes in your village? Her eyes look like his."

White Zetsu pointed at the masked Uchiha's visible eye. His sharingan in its normal state looked like Maida's.

Carl wasn't saying anything at all because he knew that reinforcements were on the way already. And Black Zetsu couldn't read minds like Spiral, so he couldn't get anything out of Carl either.

White Zetsu noticed that a group of armed people were coming, so he stabbed Carl with a dagger of wood that came out of his hand. Apparently, he was capable of using Spiral's techniques too.

"Things are going to get hectic here," stated White Zetsu filled with excitement.

"Let's look for the sharingan now," ordered Black Zetsu.

"Yes, but let's remain separate for now, it has been a while since I fight like this. I know you need to be connected to a body, but my clones shall work for now. I want to fight here as myself."

Then, he turned towards the masked Uchiha.

"We will enter the village and get the sharingans. Take care of this group that is coming," said White Zetsu.

Black Zetsu merged with the ground and left the scene without anyone seeing him after he entered the ground. He headed to the central part of the village.

White Zetsu prepared his special clones for the upcoming battle. He focused and used his technique:

"Solid clones jutsu!"

(Unlike Naruto's famous shadow clones, White Zetsu's solid clones are not destroyed easily. They are nowhere near as powerful or smart as their original, but they must be killed, instead of just hit or damaged for them to be gone for good. They do not disappear either; their bodies stay there, since they are solid like real bodies.)

About 30 beings that looked just like White Zetsu raised from the ground. Ten of them went to attack the group that approached them and the others walked with White Zetsu when he headed straight for the village's central fountain, which was visible from the entrance.

The group of reinforcements was Kenn's squad.

"Carl!" yelled Kenn when he saw Carl collapsing to the floor. He couldn't see who had stabbed Carl, but the two in front of him were the guy of the orange mask and one of the white green-haired freaks. It had to be one of them.

"You look like the group's leader. Tell me where in the village is the one that has sharingan eyes," demanded the masked Uchiha. However, Kenn wasn't listening. He had just realized that Carl was dead; he looked different and lifeless.

"You two will pay for this!"

Kenn had his two red knives ready, but the masked guy attacked first at that moment.

"Fire-style Katon fireball jutsu!"

Kenn counterattacked just in time!

"Fire-style Katon fireball jutsu!"

The masked Uchiha had not used his full power because he never expected that someone from this village would be able to use fire jutsus; however, his attack wasn't weak and it had been stopped completely by the same fire-based technique. It had to be… there was no other explanation:

"You are another Uchiha like me."

The masked man was a little surprised. He thought that all Uchihas were dead, except for him and Itachi's little brother, Sasuke Uchiha, who's life had been spared by Itachi during the Uchiha clan's massacre. He was one of the last ones remaining from his clan, but now they had found two in the same village, and one was even from Madara's bloodline. Things had changed.

Kenn had also realized that this guy was an Uchiha. He had an eye similar to Maida's, so he also had an awakened sharingan, but he didn't care:

"Uchiha or not, you will pay for this!

Fire-shaper jutsu!"

The power of flames encircled the top half of Kenn's fire knives and he charged at the other Uchiha. He quickly noticed that the sharingan eye had something to do with him not landing any attack, even though he had seen his knives go through the enemy more than once.

"It doesn't work. Don't you realize that you cannot hit me with any attack!?"

There was some space in-between them and both stood still for a while.

"The sharingan eye has a limit. You won't be able to use it forever. And when you reach it, your eye will bleed and you won't be able to use its power again until it is fully healed."

The masked man laughed with his deep voice.

"That is true, but it won't work with me. I am used to using it many times. You and everyone here will be goners before my sharingan reaches its limit."

Then, an unexpected barrage of shurikens and knives started to fall on the masked Uchiha. (Kenn's group had defeated the White Zetsu clones!) And he wasn't able to throw them back at them because he didn't see them coming, so he didn't have the chance to absorb them with his eye's vortex. His eye was extremely quick though; so he was able to teleport himself to avoid getting hurt. Nonetheless, at least one of the shurikens or knives did hit him. Kenn saw there was some blood on the enemy's arm. How was that possible if he had been using his eye technique?

Kenn figured it out pretty quickly. His technique needed at least half a second of recovery before it could be used again for another five seconds. Then, if attacks were coming nonstop, it was possible to hit him during that minimal time of recovery. Not all of them threw their shurikens at once—he had taught them this as a group battle tactic—they timed it so that shurikens and knives were falling on the target nonstop for a while.

Kenn's group surrounded the masked Uchiha and, when they saw Kenn's signal, they prepared to attack him just like before, but using the fire-style jutsu that Kenn had taught them well. Some of them began to use the Katon Blaze jutsu and the others followed with perfect timing. Their blazes were nowhere near as powerful as those done by the Uchihas—who are well-known for their eye techniques and their mastery of fire-based jutsus—but they were enough to cause burns.

The masked man thought about beating them all at once with his more powerful fire jutsus, but they were not close together; they were attacking from different places around him. Also, these were not shurikens, it was fire, so he couldn't absorb the attack with his sharingan and throw it back at them. (If he had a rinnegan this was possible. One of the rinnegan's abilities is to absorb and nullify all elemental jutsus.) He also realized that some of the blazes were capable of reaching him during his minimal time of recovery. Then, he thought he would have to take them out one by one, teleporting around the place until they were all gone. However, a better idea to show how mighty he was came to his mind.

The masked man teleported himself to the roof of the tallest house at the front of the village before any of the blazes reached him. From there, Kenn's whole group was visible. They would know what the ultimate fire-style technique was like and he would take them all out in one shot.

"Fire-style Katon Inferno jutsu!"

The Uchiha of the orange mask created an unbelievably large mass of fire that moved very quickly and became even larger. It covered the whole area where Kenn and the others were. It also reached the entrance of the village and started a fire.

He was certain that it was over, at least for this group.

"What a pity. He could have joined me instead of ending up like this here. He had not even awakened his sharingan."

However, he had been wrong all along, may be because he also had a little of the same type of arrogance that Jounen had.

Heat shields that looked like orange bubbles were covering everyone. Some villagers had fallen, but almost everyone in Kenn's group was still there. And Kenn was looking at him with the new look of his red sharingan eyes. He had awakened his eyes during the last month of trainings and had perfected his heat shield, which was far stronger than before now. He was the one that casted it on all. He was forced to activate his sharingan to make his best shields against fire itself.

The masked Uchiha was angry now. He was starting to feel fatigued from using his eye and from the last large-scale jutsu, but he would never lose to the likes of Kenn or to anyone—at least, that's what he thought. He had to fulfill Madara's plan and his dream first. He turned to look at the village itself, while his sharingan eye changed to its mangekyou shape:

"Fire-style Katon Rain jutsu!"

A large number of small balls of fire started to fall on the houses of the village, causing many fires. Then, the masked man turned back to look at Kenn. He was going to use his most lethal technique with his mangekyou sharingan. It consisted on using his teleportation on parts of others' bodies, causing them fatal injuries that were guaranteed to kill them in one single shot. Before he began, however, he realized that half of Kenn's group were almost kids and there were kids in the village near the entrance. He stopped to think for a second. He would kill the other Uchiha without hesitation, but not the kids. The reality was that he wasn't as evil and merciless as he looked. He also started to feel the fatigue again, so he had to hurry.

Suddenly, he felt there was someone else there with him.

"Do you need a hand with this? It will be just like when I helped you to break the cave's wall back then."

The voice was familiar, but different. Nonetheless, he was able to recognize it before turning around.

"Spiral? What are you doing here!?"

"Yes, you do need my help. I am the ultimate living armor after all."

Before the masked Uchiha could turn completely, Spiral united his arms and legs with his and closed his face and his head on his. By the time the masked Uchiha began to see what happened, it was already too late. Spiral was already in control and he would be until Zetsu ordered him to let him go. Spiral looked like a snake when he covered the masked guy's whole body with his own.

Spiral's main concern was eliminating all the obstacles to Zetsu's examination of the sharingans. Those who had sharingans could not be killed before Zetsu examined them. And now there was another sharingan to check—Kenn's. This was why Spiral stopped his ally before he could use his technique to finish Kenn. However, he didn't care about the others. Spiral's wild trees and snake-like branches started to grow from the ground and began to grab everyone, regardless of age. The abnormal plants drained the chakra of everyone and left them trapped and lifeless.

Spiral used the sharingan to teleport himself—he was controlling the masked man. He appeared in front of Kenn. The branches that reached Kenn only left him trapped, but they didn't drain his life force.

"He doesn't look particularly powerful like Madara, but neither did this guy at first and now I have to admit his mangekyou's power is pretty sweet. He has come a long way."

One of White Zetsu's clones appeared from the ground to check what was happening there.

"Didn't I tell you to wait for this! We are not dealing with his former naive self now. He will be at Madara's level very soon, once he gets Madara's left rinnegan."

Spiral answered aggravated:

"He was about to kill this other Uchiha that has sharingans too. I had to stop him!"

The clone walked towards Kenn and placed his hands on Kenn's eyes. Kenn struggled and screamed as the white hands started to merge with his eyes. Then, the clones' eyes changed; they took the exact same shape and form as Kenn's sharingan eyes. They had become an exact copy of Kenn's eyes. The clone activated them and used them to feel their true potential. Then, the examination was complete and clear.

"These won't ever turn into rinnegans. Their power is limited, unlike Madara's. The farthest these can go is a mangekyou awakening, but even that is not guaranteed."

Spiral looked at Kenn.

"It's too bad. We have no use for you then."

The branches that grabbed him started to drain all his chakra, and with it, his body's life force as well. Kenn died there.

"Spiral, you will need to erase all of this from his mind without fail. After Madara, he is one of our best options. Stay in the sidelines with the other clones. We will take care of the rest while the original Zetsu gets the girl. We found out her name already."

The clone went back into the ground after his eyes turned back to their original form. Spiral entered the village.

White and Black Zetsu were already inside. There were more clones of White Zetsu there fighting the villagers.

It was only a matter of time before they could get to the one that had potential in her eyes.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Maida's Sharingans


	9. Chapter 9: Maida's Sharingans

**CHAPTER 9: Maida's Sharingans**

Pedro realized that there were various traces of smoke in the air, and all of them were coming from where the village was. Clearly, something was happening there and if it caused that much smoke, it involved fire. It could not be anything good; that was obvious to him. Were they under attack? May be Jounen had returned with a larger group. He started to worry about Maida when he thought about that. She was their main target back then.

He was about to start his training for the day, but after the realization of danger, he knew he had to go back right away. He quickly grabbed his sword and rushed towards the village. He was wearing a black headband, a black shirt, and orange training pants. Despite his speed and his concern for what was happening, it was going to take him some time to return to the village; he was two miles away.

While he ran, he kept thinking about it. He thought about worse scenarios, such as an all-out attack from The Leaf's Anbu squads. This was a possibility if The Leaf was not a good clan as he thought. He prepared himself on the way to deal with the worst case scenario. One thing was certain: another high-level ninja had to be involved and another serious battle was going to occur once he arrived.

Meanwhile, the White Zetsu clones had caused havoc at the village looking for Madara's grand-daughter. The villagers were fighting them too. People had chosen to fight against them, instead of giving them what they wanted. However, things were starting to look bad and some had already revealed that she was in the medical area. Others called her Maida, giving up what her name was to White Zetsu.

Black Zetsu was also using his ability of going through surfaces to search houses, but he wasn't at the medical area, so he had not found anyone with sharingan eyes yet. He couldn't do this for too long either, he had to look for a clone or a villager because his life force started to fade slowly when he stayed unattached to a living body for too long. This had been his curse since that fateful day when both Zet and he had no choice, but to become what they were today.

Chief Barton was already aware of the chaos. He could feel and see some of what was happening. His mother was a woman from the Uchiha clan, a former deserter, just like Maida's mother, her daughter, and Kenn. He did not inherit the sharingan eyes and he never talked about this, so very few knew about it, but this was the real reason why he had accepted them and why he excluded them from their report to The Leaf—the Uchiha clan was a close ally of The Leaf and they had left that clan. Although his mother and Maida's mother had been gone for years, Maida reminded him of them. Unlike people like Madara, they had done much good to others.

The new invaders were destroying his village, killing his people, and now they were headed for Maida. He would not let them harm her! She was like family to him. He was old and didn't have the sharingan, but thanks to being part Uchiha he could use some of their techniques and, just like Maida, he could feel what others were thinking. Besides, he had been a really good shinobi in his youth, so he was no push over in battle either. He grabbed his crossbow and his two canes—which were really swords in disguise within the canes—and headed for the medical zone of the village.

White Zetsu was already there. He could not wait to see the one that carried Madara's blood and the sharingans that were always active. He knew those eyes had to be special because not even Madara Uchiha had his sharingans active at all times.

He stood at the very center of the plaza, where all the medical cabins and houses were. This was the same place where Pedro and Maida had met months ago.

"Maida Uchiha! Come to meet me and we won't harm this village any longer! If you don't come, everything will be destroyed until we get to you!"

Maida knew what was happening; she could see it even more clear than the chief because of her sharingans. She knew that the one leading the attack was there and it was her who he wanted from the start. She couldn't see his thoughts very clearly, but what was happening was more than enough to understand them. She headed for the door to go to the open plaza to meet him. However, the old nurse in charge of the place and two others stopped her.

"Don't go Maida," said the old woman while she held one of Maida's arms.

"If you go, they will kill you!" said the other two young nurses that blocked her way.

"What about everybody else? They will continue until they get to me, and I know what they want."

Maida was worried, but it was not about herself. The other people and what could happen to them worried her more. Maida's mind was already made up about it, but before she could leave, one of the other nurses there stood up and went to the door.

"I will tell them where you are. We should not have to die and pay because of you!"

When Yania said this, she sounded angry and full of hatred. She had been hiding the jealousy and envy that she felt towards Maida for a long time; and truth be told, this was not about saving the others, but rather about settling her own personal grudges with Maida.

She was the young nurse that took care of Pedro before he picked Maida—instead of her—to help with his recovery. Maida was considered one of the top nurses in a matter of weeks because of her special skills. Yania perceived that she deserved such distinctions too because she had been there longer. Most importantly, she never got over the fact that Pedro preferred Maida, even though she was much more attractive than Maida. And, naturally, Yania was not an angel either—deep down, she saw this as an opportunity to eliminate Maida, the one she saw as the source of her hatred.

"Yania, what are you doing!?" yelled the old nurse, but it didn't have any effect.

Yania went outside and told the green-haired invader what he wanted:

"The Uchiha woman that you seek is here in this cabin. They are hiding her! Take her and leave us in peace!"

She said it while pointing towards the right place and looking straight at White Zetsu.

White Zetsu couldn't contain his emotion, he couldn't wait any longer to get his hands on the special sharingans that could end up being just like Madara's, or better. This was a chance to fulfill the plan without Madara Uchiha.

In front of the door, there was someone already. Even though it was a little far, the red glow of her eyes made it clear that she was the one that he was looking for.

Zet—this is White Zetsu's real name—started to walk and made his move really fast:

"Earth-bullet jutsu!"

(This jutsu is a combination of Jounen's wind-twirler and Pedro's earth-shoot. It adds mad spinning to the small earth spire that is aimed at the target.)

The sharp piece of rock that Zet used pierced through Yania's heart like a bullet from a real rifle. She didn't even know that Maida was already outside and definitely didn't expect something like this. Maida ran towards her and grabbed her from the floor to attempt to save her, but it was too late for that. Even her advanced medical ninja skills were not capable of saving Yania from this. She would only live one minute more at most.

Maida started to feel desperation and some anger towards Zet, even though this was not her nature. He, his allies, and his clones had brought total chaos and despair to the whole village in less than one hour.

"I killed someone that wanted to betray you. I'm sure that your eyes had already seen that. I'm sure that you also know why I am here now."

Zet was trying to sound friendly, even though his intentions were clear. Maida left it clear that she knew what his true intentions were:

"You want my sharingans. You think that they are like my grandfather's."

Zet was a little surprised at first:

"Oh my, you really know a lot, don't you? Your eyes must be pretty good indeed."

He summoned some of his White Zetsu clones and in only a matter of seconds, two appeared from the ground close to Maida and two others appeared close to him. The two that were close to Maida grabbed her arms and pushed her forward while they walked towards their creator, Zet.

The clones were close when, suddenly, they felt their arms were burning and had to set Maida free. She was the one that had done it. She grabbed their arms and used one of the medical ninja's forbidden techniques: anti-healing. Instead of curing their wounds, she created wounds on them.

Zet was not expecting this, but he wasn't worried; if this was her way to attack instead of the sharingan's power, then she surely had not learned any powerful techniques with her eyes yet. Things were going to be easier than he expected. Even he would have had to go all out in a serious battle with someone like Madara, but she wasn't at that level.

She attacked the clones again like that, but this time they were prepared to retaliate. Both grabbed her with one hand and had a wood knife grow on the palm of their other hand. They placed the knives on her neck and forced her to keep walking.

Then, a big surprised happened to the White Zetsu clones. A small arrow pierced the head of one of them and the other one got another arrow on the neck. Both fell down to the ground and stayed there. Chief Barton had arrived on the scene.

Another clone came from the ground and held Barton's crossbow while the two that were with Zet ran towards him. When they were close, Barton grabbed the two canes he was holding with his other hand and unsheathed the two medium-sized swords—revealing that they really were not canes for an old man after all. A few sword slashes were enough to deal with the clones that had no weapons or armor to protect them.

"I won't let you destroy my village and my family any longer!"

Barton grabbed the crossbow and shot an arrow straight at Zet's face.

The arrow was so fast that Zet really didn't have time to do any of his jutsus to block it, neither could he grow a shield of trees like Spiral. He only had time to move his head out of the way, and it almost caught him! He got really mad when he realized it had given him a small cut on his left cheek. He had not been able to dodge it! (The old man certainly had crossbow skills)

Zet touched the ground and made wild branches—like Spiral's—grow close to Maida and Barton. Both were caught and trapped by the branches. He also made another batch of White Zetsu clones with his solid clones jutsu to block any villagers that were coming to help Maida and the chief.

Su—Black Zetsu's real name—and Spiral—who was on the masked Uchiha's body—arrived at the scene, but they stayed a little far to fight off any villagers that tried to get closer to the chief or to Maida. Su took over one of the clones; he was already starting to feel a little weak from not being attached to any living body since they started the assault at the village. He preferred a powerful one like his nephew's—Su was Zet's uncle and Hagaromo's second brother—but he had to allow Zet to examine the sharingans. Neither he nor Spiral had that ability.

Zet's face-cut healed abnormally fast, but his pride didn't. He went towards Barton first and stood still when he was in front of him. The chief was firm, despite the imminent danger.

"You monster! You won't get what you want from us!"

"I will, starting with you. Because of your defiance old man, I will give you a slower death."

Zet made a wood knife on his hand and used it to deliver a lethal stab to Barton. It wasn't at a vital point, but close enough to one, so Barton was not going to make it if he didn't get medical attention soon. Then, Zet made the branches go back to the ground and Barton fell on the floor.

"With that wound, you will live another hour at most, and you will see me get what I came here for."

He left Barton there and headed towards Maida. She attempted to use genjutsu on him, even though she didn't have formal practice on such sharingan techniques.

(Genjutsu is the type of special ninja techniques that can be used to cloud or change the perception of reality that the attacker has. In Naruto's world, those with eye powers can do genjutsu and the Uchihas are the best users of it by far.)

"You don't know your genjutsu very well, but even if you did, it won't work on me. That was one of the useful things I learned from my trip out of the human realm. Now, let's see what you have for me Maida Uchiha."

Zet placed the palms of his hands on her eyes, just like his clone had done with Kenn before. Maida struggled as she felt that his palms were merging with her eyes, but she couldn't escape the branches. Then, it finally happened: Zet's eyes took the same form as Maida's sharingans.

He had random visions of past events. He saw himself as a kid and as a teenager, years before he was cursed as Zetsu. He remembered how he was the only one of Hagaromo's children that wasn't recognized as powerful in the human realm. His half-brothers, Asura and Indra, and his father, the Sage of the Six Paths, always had all the praise. He saw how he became a powerful sage at the other realms. He also remembered the grand battle where both he and his uncle Su lost it all and ended up as Zetsu. Someday—after he dominated the human realm—he would get revenge on the one that had done that to him, and on Su as well, for using him during such a long time. Finally, he saw something that wasn't from his past; it was a battle where both, him and some unknown shinobi—who's face wasn't clear—were present. The unknown shinobi was dressed as a sage from one of the other realms…

He had enough of this! Apparently, this was the power of Maida's sharingans. She could "see" things. He tried to use the sharingans for genjutsu and even tried to force them into a mangekyou transformation, but it was futile. After straining himself very much trying to draw out the power of Maida's sharingans and judging how much they would be able to evolve, it became clear to him: He didn't feel that her sharingans would ever turn into rinnegans and they didn't feel anywhere near as powerful as Madara's.

Zet was extremely disappointed. He was expecting something special from the fact that they were always active, but all he got was a series of flashbacks. Even worse, he was certain that these would never turn into rinnegans, so they didn't work for the plan. They had gone through all the trouble at the village for nothing.

He finally detached his hands from her eyes and his eyes came back to their normal color.

"It is too bad that you are Madara's grand-daughter. You are nothing like him. His sharingans were a hundred times more powerful than these eyes you have. Even at his death bed, he was able to awaken the rinnegan. It looks like we will need his eyes to complete our plan."

His disappointment started to turn into anger slowly. And the branches began to drain Maida's life force. He stopped them before it could kill her and made them come back to the ground after he had his left hand on her neck. He lifted her with that hand only. His voice was piercing:

"A grand-daughter that he apparently didn't know about won't be one that he will miss. Besides, after he summons Infinite Tsukuyomi for us, we will also take him out. It must have been a curse being from his bloodline, just like it was for me to be the forgotten son of the great sage. I will free you from that. Good bye Maida Uchiha."

Even though she was in critical condition, Zet wanted to deliver the finishing blow himself. (Deep down, he despised both his father and Madara because they had been chosen to have the rinnegan, rather than him.) His right hand approached Maida, while a final wood knife grew on its palm. He was going to use that knife on Maida right when it happened:

Three sharp spires of earth lacerated his two arms when they went through them at high speeds. He had to drop Maida right away. His arms were in a really bad shape in an instant.

The one who did it had to be a pretty skilled earth-style ninja. Even Zet never used more than two spires at a time for that technique. He looked at the distance, and so did Su. They saw someone there with a sword, a black t-shirt, and orange pants.

The village's earth-ninja had arrived!

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Pedro Namikaze Versus Zetsu


	10. Chapter 10: Pedro Namikaze Versus Zetsu

**CHAPTER 10: Pedro Namikaze Versus Zetsu**

Pedro arrived and got quite alarmed with what he saw. There were fires and battles with white green-haired clones throughout the entire village. At the large medical plaza, he noticed a strange masked man and a black being—that didn't seem human—were blocking a group of villagers from entering the plaza. Then, he saw the one that looked like the original green-haired one and the leader of all. He was at the center of the plaza lifting someone with one hand only.

Pedro's examination of the situation and even his thoughts stopped altogether when he realized that the leader was about to kill Maida. He attacked instantly and as fast as he could with his fastest attack: the earth-shoot jutsu. His jutsu left Zet's arms in really bad shape.

Zet looked at him and started to heal himself with a special medical ninjutsu. The green glow on his hands looked exactly like that of Maida when she used her most powerful healing technique before. However, Zet's healing speed was much faster. Something else was happening with him; his healing was abnormally fast.

"Stop any villagers from interfering with us Spiral. It looks like Zet was caught off guard. I will take care of this guy quickly," said Black Zetsu (Su).

Su got closer to Zet and to Pedro.

"It's him. He is the one that defeated Jounen before, I can feel it," said White Zetsu (Zet).

Su had no worries at all:

"It doesn't matter to us. I will finish him even faster than Jounen."

Zet, however, was very good at judging other ninjas' level and abilities. Somehow, he knew that this one was not going to be a walk in the park. He finished healing his arms, while Su headed straight for Pedro. Pedro had just untied and dropped his black headband. It was clear that to stop the attack on the village, he had to defeat "White" and "Black." They were the leaders. Most importantly, they were after Maida, so to guarantee her safety, they had to be defeated. And Maida was in a very bad condition, so this was a battle against the clock as well. He had to finish them quickly to save her.

Su planned to grab him and immobilize him with his body control power; however, he didn't know the earth ninja was quite clever against new opponents.

"Earth-grab jutsu!"

Pedro's jutsu grabbed a very large portion of earth and threw it at Su at the right time. This blocked Su's sight of him for a few seconds and delayed Su's attack. Black Zetsu even got earth on his mouth from that jutsu, so he got furious:

"You worm! How dare you!"

Then, he saw the earth ninja approaching in the air, right after the earth-grab attack ended, and ready to slash him with his sword. Su extended his arm and got a hold of him, then he shaped his other hand like a spear and made it go right through him. And, as if all that wasn't enough, he made a wild branch—like Spiral and Zet's branches—grow from behind and it impaled the earh ninja as well.

"It's over in less than one minute," said Su triumphant.

However, the earth ninja he had finished turned into actual earth that simply crumbled on his hands. It was an earth clone, which was a simple type of jutsu used to distract opponents. Even kids could do it. And he fell for it completely!

While Su's hands were still in the earth clone's remains, Pedro appeared and, with a swift and mighty slash of his sword, he cut Su's body in half!

Su could not have gotten a bigger surprise, but he also reacted very quickly: he detached himself from the White Zetsu clone and jumped in the air, revealing his true form—a black living mass of variable shape that was taking a human shape for now. However, it wasn't over yet.

When the real Black Zetsu turned around to look for Pedro, a giant earth sword clashed on his head! And, without leaving him a second to recover, Pedro cut him in half again! This time it was through his head; the White Zetsu clone had been split through the stomach area.

Pedro had used his earth-shaper jutsu, which was far better than before. And, knowing that this was the real one, he didn't think twice to follow with another slash. Su wouldn't have seen this coming, even in his dreams.

Spiral was in shock:

"Su! I mean… Black Zetsu!"

He was ready to cast the Inferno jutsu and go all out on the earth ninja, but Zet stopped him:

"Relax, and do not interfere, no matter what! Stop the villagers left and leave this arena to me. Black Zetsu may be in trouble, but that won't kill him. You, better than anyone, should know that by now. He is different from us."

Zet knew this could have been an opportunity to finish Su, but he was more driven to have a good battle being the master of his body like before. Besides, the earth ninja was fast, so he really had no other choice than dealing with him first.

"But, how is this village ninja so powerful?! I haven't seen anyone beat Black Zetsu so fast!"

Spiral was still shocked, and also anxious about not joining Zet. Zet, however, had a full grasp of the situation already:

"He has one or two open chakra gates; and he is fast and clever. Those are his secrets. Nothing I have not seen before."

Zet forced Spiral to obey and summoned more of his clones:

"Snake-curse jutsu!"

"Solid clones jutsu!"

After just a minor feel of the horrible curse that bound him to Zet since that fateful day, Spiral obeyed Zet right away.

Zet closed his eyes and prepared himself to fight just as he used to do it before he was cursed that day as White Zetsu.

He sent the clones after Pedro and began to gather nature's energy (also known as sage chakra in Naruto Shippuden) to enter one of his sage modes. He knew the earth ninja could last a good amount of time with his chakra gates, so he chose to fight him with an equivalent force: sage mode.

(Sage mode gathers sage chakra from nature, instead of inner chakra from the body. After enough sage chakra is gathered, the user can enter sage mode, which—just like the "open body gates" mode—increases speed, jutsu power, and strength dramatically. It also wears off after a limited amount of time. However, it doesn't hurt the user's body after it ends, and it allows the use of a realm's unique sage abilities and jutsus—if the user turns into the sage mode of that realm.)

This was a grand joy for Zet. It had been decades since he fought a worthy opponent without Su attached to him and controlling him for half of the battle. It had also been a long time since his last use of a sage mode.

"The other medium-level ninjas at the village were only a warm-up for me. I am glad that you came at the end earth ninja. Let me show you what a true master of the earth-style can do."

Pedro finished dealing with the clones while he heard Zet's words. He knew he could have his first chakra gate open for another 20 minutes, and he could even open the second one, but that would cut his time limit to eight minutes at most.

Zet still had his eyes closed, but by the time the clones were finished, he had already reached sage mode: the perimeter of his eyes and the skin of his face around them turned brown; his pupils also changed from yellow to light brown; and, at the end, a straight purple line appeared on the center of his forehead with another purple diamond shape at its center. He was ready.

Pedro attacked him with the earth-shoot jutsu and followed with the earth-clam jutsu.

Zet destroyed the two small earth projectiles with a single punch! However, the two walls of earth that were raised by his sides clashed on him, like a giant open mouth, and closed on him without mercy!

"Earth-style sphere-shield jutsu!"

The walls broke and the rocks and earth went flying in all directions after Zet broke his own spherical earth shield. This was not a normal earh shield like Pedro's. It was capable of holding a mighty attack and then it destroyed the walls of the other attack with its release. It was a more advanced form of the technique that made it a powerful counterattack as well.

"Earth-shaper jutsu!"

Pedro made the same giant earth sword as before and launched it towards Zet like a lance that packed the power of one hundred lances.

"Grand-earth-wall jutsu!"

Zet raised a powerful wall of stone, which was clearly stronger than Pedro's at the time of his battle versus Jounen. The wall blocked the mighty sword, which couldn't go through it nor destroy it.

"Earth-sage-art plateau shaper jutsu!"

Suddenly, the portion of the ground where Zet was standing began to raise up more and more, and the area surrounding Zet also went up until a small mountain was formed. This earth-style jutsu was completely new to Pedro; he had never seen anything like it done by anyone in his whole life.

Then, the bodies of Maida and Barton began to roll down from the middle of the elevated terrain from the side that was farthest from Pedro. Both were alive, but in critical condition. They would not make it without fast medical attention. Pedro almost forgot about his dire situation and went towards them to help them, but Zet was just getting started:

"They should be your last concern now! Your own life is what you should be fighting for! I haven't shown you what an earth sage from the Earth Realm can do! Watch!"

Zet prepared himself for a major sage jutsu:

"Earth-sage-art earthquake jutsu!"

The land around everyone at the village began to tremble. Everyone had to stand still and most tall structures were destroyed. Even Spiral remembered what it was like to fight Sage Zet at his full power when they had their grand battle at the realm from where Spiral came from.

Despite the quake, Pedro managed to get closer to Barton and Maida. They were indeed alive, but in a worse condition than he thought—especially chief Barton. His eyes caught Maida's for a second and both could see the deep worry in their souls for the well-being of the other. They were more worried about their loved one than about themselves.

Then, Zet focused on another major attack of the Earth Realm's sages, and he aimed it at Pedro:

"Earth-sage-art earth storm!"

It looked just like Jounen's tornado, but it was larger and it also gathered rocks and earth nonstop throughout its path. It was a true force of nature: a calamity of earth and wind combined!

Pedro was capable of dodging it thanks to the speed he had with his open chakra gate, but he could not do it. Maida and Barton were going to get hit by it! He could not dodge knowing that they were behind him. All three of them were going to get hit by it if he could not block it!

He used the most powerful earth wall that he could make and then, he opened his second chakra gate and made earth-sphere-shields for Maida, Barton, and himself.

The wall started to crack and the earth tornado didn't seem to get any weaker. It was clear that it was going to break completely before it was over. Pedro didn't know what to do this time, but he followed his heart. He stood a few meters in front of them to block it from getting to them. It was already too late to escape it. It would have had to go through him first to reach them.

Maida was almost in tears:

"Pedro don't do it! Please escape! Leave us!"

She didn't want to see anything bad happening to Pedro and she could barely move after what the branches had done to her. Nonetheless, she managed to be loud enough so that Pedro could hear her.

As he watched how his wall of earth shattered, he gave her his answer:

"I won't leave you! I will never leave the ones I love behind!"

It only lasted for another half a minute, so it didn't reach Maida or Barton, but that was enough to break Pedro's shield and he suffered wounds. Thankfully, his clothes guarded him, but he wasn't in good condition anymore.

"It is time to finish things here earth ninja. Why don't you tell me your name now?"

Zet sounded like someone who had complete control of the situation.

Pedro prepared himself for what he was about to do—his last resort to beat this uber powerful rogue ninja. Purposefully, he answered Zet to gain some time for himself:

"I am Pedro Namikaze from the former Namikaze clan."

"Namikaze? I don't remember them. They must have been a bunch of random earth ninjas, but nothing extraordinary and definitely no candidates for sages among them."

Zet was already convinced of how this battle would end:

"You would have made a good earth sage at the land of those stupid monkeys from the Earth Realm. It is too bad that your journey will end here."

Pedro was almost ready. He began to run towards Zet to get as far as possible from Maida and Barton.

Then, Zet revealed his final attack:

"This is how you do the earth shaper jutsu!"

"Earth-sage-art shaper jutsu!"

Zet formed one hundred and twenty earth swords of standard shape. Clearly, he planned to launch them all at Pedro; and he did it.

Pedro simultaneously opened two more of his body's chakra gates, making it four in total. He had already opened two and three during his training, but this was his first time ever with four. He knew it would take a single minute to reach his limit.

The power and the chakra from the four gates—half of the body's chakra gates—open at once was unbelievable. His speed doubled and he was already quite fast with two gates open. He blocked or destroyed each of the dozens of earth swords with his own sword.

Zet quickly realized what happened to Pedro. This was a real problem. The strength and speed he had gained almost matched his sage mode, and both his sage mode and Pedro's chakra flow were at their limits. The tables could be turned against his favor. He quickly thought of a finisher to end things right away, but he had no time, he was already within Pedro's reach.

Zet created and used a solid earth sword against Pedro's normal sword. However, Zet overestimated his own skills. It had been ages since he fought using swords in close-range battle.

Pedro managed to land three serious slashes on him. They were at very similar speeds even though his sage mode was supposed to be a little faster. Then, Zet's purple diamond on his forehead began to glow and his major wounds began to close and heal really fast.

"I forgot to tell you my secret: I am not just an earth sage. I got my healing powers from the Slug Realm's sage mode, which I am also using now."

They stood up in the center of the plaza in front of each other. This was Pedro's final chance:

"Earth-hold jutsu!"

Two large mounds of earth came up from the ground close to Pedro's hands.

Zet smiled.

"Is this your last move? Do you think you can beat be by throwing those at me? Why don't you try it!?"

Pedro threw the two mounds at him, but there was more. Zet underestimated the attack because he knew this was Pedro's last attack, so he didn't cover himself with any shields or walls. However, he missed that an earth sword was going for his head from behind. Pedro also rushed towards him.

Zet perceived the sword from behind without seeing it—thanks to his training at the Snake Realm—so he blocked that; but when he did it, Pedro reached for one of the mounds and grabbed his own real sword, which was hidden inside it. He directed his last sword slash at Zet's head too. Pedro's final slash was his most powerful; it would have broken a rock in half.

Zet couldn't block both and since he chose to block the one from behind, Pedro's sword was going to get him for sure. There was no time to escape the final sword slash. For the first time in years, Zet realized that someone had been able to outsmart him in a fraction of a battle. He was going to lose his life because of a minor little mistake he made in judging someone who wasn't at his sage level.

However, fate didn't intend it to be that way. Su saved Zet just in time by grabbing Pedro and slightly moving his sword's trajectory before his attack reached Zet's head. Apparently, being split in half before had not killed Su.

At that moment, Pedro's chakra flow reached its limit.

Zet reached for him, still in shock because Pedro's sword almost touched him with enough power to go through him—even in his stronger sage modes—and he was not quite like Su, so that could have been his end. For a second, Zet felt a glimpse of fear for his life; it had been ages since he had had a taste of that feeling. He was a superior being from the past: the third son of the legendary Sage of Six Paths who created and spread the power of jutsus in the Human Realm; the one who found the secret to travelling to another realm when no one knew it; a genius who had become powerful without the help of eye powers or his father; and the one who conquered the secrets of all the other realms, except Mount Myoboku (the Realm of the Toads)—he didn't think stupid frogs would add much more to his power.

The thought that someone like this earth ninja could have finished him was unbearable. His grand dream of leading the Human Realm and taking revenge on his uncle and the one whom cursed them both could not be stopped by anyone. After these thoughts, he punched Pedro on his right eye. Then, Zet's sage mode power reached its limit. His eyes and forehead returned to normal.

The punch pretty much destroyed Pedro's right eye. Zet was still an earth sage when he did it. The punch and the aftermath of opening four chakra gates for the first time hit Pedro at the same time, so he lost consciousness.

Su attached himself to Zet's body again.

"What would you do without me nephew?" asked Su sarcastically.

Zet, by his own will, prepared a wood knife to kill Pedro, but when he was about to do it, he stopped:

"I have to admit you were pretty good. What was your name? I forgot it. Anyways, you earned it earth ninja. For giving me a great battle, even at your level, I will give you a painless death. And I will take back what I said: there was one at your unknown clan who could have been a sage. It's too bad you are an enemy, otherwise we could have recruited you for our elite group, Akatsuki."

Zetsu made a bunch of branches grab Pedro and place him on the ground. The branches began to suck away his life force.

"Spiral, we are leaving, there is nothing left at this village now. Do the clean-up for us, as you always do. Remember, no witnesses. Finish any survivors you find."

When Barton heard that, he knew he had to do it; he knew he had to use the forbidden genjutsu that his Uchiha mother had taught him, the one that could feign a person's death and that didn't require the sharingan eyes. He used it on Maida, but Spiral reached him before he could use it on himself. Spiral didn't recognize that Maida was not dead because of that temporary genjutsu.

Afterwards, Zetsu—Zet and Su—and Spiral (who still had hold of the masked man's body) left.

The whole village had been destroyed and everyone was dead, except for Maida.

Pedro Namizake's body was on the bed of branches where Zet had left him. He was dead too, along with his dreams and hopes of creating peace and happiness in his war-torn ninja world.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Sacrifice


	11. Chapter 11: The Sacrifice

**CHAPTER 11: The Sacrifice**

Maida could feel that the invaders were gone. There were fires in the village still, but they were not at the plaza where the last events occurred. She saw one of the invaders attacking Barton, but he had left her there, as if he thought that she was dead.

It worried her that there was no movement after they left. There were no voices and no one was coming to help her or the others. However, Pedro was her main concern at that moment. He definitely wasn't in a good condition. She had to help him. She still had in her mind what he did for her and Barton. She couldn't let him die no matter what.

She tried to stand on her feet, but she couldn't. Her condition was comparable to being two days without food, not to mention that she also had wounds from when Zet raised his earth hill and Barton and she fell down from it. She needed medical attention, but that was her last concern.

When she managed to crawl to move from where she was, she was able to see the destruction that lied ahead. No one was standing. Apparently, everyone was dead. Her red eyes got wet and she felt anguish. She thought that her sharingans were the culprits of this tragedy. If she had not been there, then may be none of that would have happened and everyone at the village would be alive.

Then, she spotted someone lying on a bunch of branches on the ground at the center of the plaza. It was Pedro!

She wasn't very close to him, but she began to move little by little, and she started to get closer and closer to him. She saw chief Barton, but there was nothing she could do for him; he was already dead. She was certain that this was not going to be the case for Pedro though. She could feel it, and her intuition, just like the visions of her sharingan eyes, were rarely wrong.

She could still remember it, despite all the devastation around them. This was the place where they had met, surrounded by the beautiful melody that she was playing. That day was when she realized that there were people capable of overlooking her eyes and seeing her for who she really was. With him, she finally understood what true love was about. He had been a blessing not just for her, but for the entire village.

She also shared his belief of joining forces with The Leaf so that all of them could help a greater cause. Becoming a part of the large clan that believed in the importance of achieving peace for its people, and for their world, would lead them and the future generations towards a better path, without wars and conflicts.

She could not believe that he was dead.

However, when she finally crawled up the branches that held his body, she could see, for the first time, that there was no life in him. This was a difficult moment for her: the truth wasn't sinking in easily in her mind.

Despite her condition, she was able to use one of her anti-healing jutsus to open the branches that held his arms and his legs. She used healing, but there was no use for it since he wasn't alive. She was not giving up though.

It was very painful to see how his right eye had been crushed—there was no healing jutsu capable of saving it. And it was even worse to realize that he and the great things he had in mind were gone. She had to do something for him; anything else was unacceptable in her mind.

"I won't leave you behind. I can't leave the one who loved me, and the one I love, behind. I can't let your dreams die," said Maida, while she held his body in her arms.

She began to remember him and what he did with her eyes still open.

As the memories continued, her sharingans began to get brighter and more red. The intensity of her eyes was greater than it had ever been. Then, it happened: the three black commas in her red eyes went towards the pupils and joined them. Her pupils were enlarged for a while and when they returned to their normal shape, the commas came back, but they looked different, they looked like infinity signs. In each eye, the three infinity signs joined around the pupil, forming a triangular shape with the pupil at the center.

Maida experienced the awakening of her mangekyou sharingan.

It was unlike any other. And, even though the movement of her triangular formation resembled Madara's, the final mangekyou shape of her sharingans was nothing like his.

Her mangekyou stayed active at all times, just like her original sharingan. Her eyes were more powerful now and she felt a resurgence of chakra through her body, but her only concern was saving Pedro somehow.

First, she did the unthinkable; she used the difficult technique that was used by high-level medical ninjas to make organ transplants. She cured the damaged skin around Pedro's right eye. Then, she replaced it with one of her mangekyou sharingans!

It seemed as if she had come back to life herself after the awakening of the mangekyou. Suddenly, she had chakra and strength to do all these high-level techniques.

She focused on him with her other eye and forgot everything else. She continued seeing her memories of him until she reached the current moment, but she didn't want them to end there, so the memories continued into the future, as if Pedro Namikaze had not died there. She saw many things, and chose to keep going, even though her own memories were starting to fade as she continued extending his.

She knew what was going to happen then. This was the special power of her mangekyou sharingan; it could see the future that she wanted and it was capable of making it real. However, the ultimate sharingan techniques always required the ultimate sacrifice. Her mother had told her about sharingan powers that had blinded or killed their users. The sharingan was powerful, but it also had a high price to pay for those that used the forbidden techniques.

What Maida didn't know was that her mangekyou's power was unique, but she knew the consequences of using it.

Nonetheless, she continued doing it, until all her memories were gone. Her life-force was next. She felt how it started to leave her, as if she was still in those branches from before. She didn't let go of him during the process, but eventually her hands left his and her body fell down and remained by his side.

Her remaining mangekyou sharingan lost all its light and so did she. However, she knew that Pedro's dream and his life would not end there.

He was also going to have her other sharingan with him forever.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Visions in the Darkness


	12. Chapter 12: Visions in the Darkness

**CHAPTER 12: Visions in the Darkness**

Pedro awakened and all he could see was a dark void, just like empty space in the cosmos itself.

He couldn't feel his body, but he was conscious. The black and empty realm felt timeless, but very familiar nonetheless. He didn't know where he was, and for a moment, he thought he was probably dead and this was what it looked like; but soon, that didn't matter much anymore.

He began to have quick flashbacks of his life, until he reached the last day that he had lived. He was seeing the images in front of himself, rather than just in his mind. They all stopped, and the absolute blackness returned when they reached the time of his battle with Zet and Su.

Then, another image appeared: it was Maida, but he was seeing her from a point of view that was far above her, and her face was not visible. He also saw himself close to her on the ground, but his face wasn't visible either. She did something to him and then, she just lied there at his side. The vision was too far away for him to notice the details, but it was clear that those were Maida and him in-between the remainders of what used to be their village. The place was in ruins, so it seemed like this was after his last battle.

Everything went dark once again. He felt anxious because he wanted to see more. He wanted to know if Maida and the others were alright, even if all the odds were against it. However, what he saw next was completely unexpected, and it had nothing to do with them.

When the images of light returned, they showed a young blonde woman that he had never seen before. She was using a headband from one of the large clans, but the sign on it wasn't clear in the vision. She was inside her house and, apparently, she was preparing something for someone else there, but that other person was not shown. Even though he had never seen her, she looked very familiar. It made no sense for him though.

These new visions were not about him—at least, that's what he thought.

Next, he started to have visions about a young blonde boy. The boy was called Naruto. He was hopeful and energetic, but a little sad at the same time. Naruto had great dreams and goals for his future. He wanted to become a Hokage—the leader of The Leaf—and he shared the same dream as Pedro. Despite their different personalities, Naruto also wanted to bring peace, justice, and happiness for all when he became Hokage.

He didn't know this boy, but as the visions continued, he became more interested in knowing more about him.

Suddenly, the view changed from the young boy to a teenager. Pedro could see how Naruto used an interesting wind-based jutsu that formed a ball of wind and chakra on his hand. The boy had grown, physically and as a ninja too.

The vision changed to Naruto wearing some strange clothes at a completely different place. His eyes were also different. For a second, they reminded Pedro of Zet's eyes when he went into his earth sage mode. Was he a sage like Zet? The place where Naruto was at also had various giant toads. Pedro had never seen this world before, and he definitely had never seen toads that large.

The vision was starting to look silly, until it changed to years later and showed Naruto as an adult. He was wearing the vest of the Kages, and the red color of his hat represented the Land of Fire and The Leaf's clan. He had become the Hokage.

What Pedro saw next left him astonished:

The other four Kages of the other parts of the continent were all there. And all the five Kages extended their hands and united them at the center of the summit. They looked like friends, rather than rivals or enemies. Their clans and the people throughout the continent were living in peace; there were no wars, conflicts, or rivalries. Everyone was happier than ever before, and lives were lost to nature's course, rather than to conflicts and hate.

Naruto's dream and Pedro's dream had been achieved. It looked like Naruto Uzumaki had been the pillar at the center of making them a reality. Even though these were just visions, Pedro felt a great surge of happiness. He realized that fulfilling his grand dream was quite possible.

Then, the five Kages, including Naruto, prepared themselves for what looked like an upcoming confrontation; and Pedro could see that a white snake was moving towards them. Apparently, there was some kind of threat left.

However, Pedro's vision returned to the darkness before he could see anything else. He had mixed feelings: these visions had given doubt, happiness, and worry at the same time. Were they real or was this just part of his imagination? They felt very real.

The visions came back one last time, and they seemed unrelated then.

First, he saw a young boy with black hair and sharingan eyes, just like Maida, but his were not active at all times. He saw a pink-haired girl calling him Sasuke. Then, he saw a man with the Hokage's vest and a large and robust ape beside him. The ape seemed human because he had clothes and was standing on his two legs. Pedro couldn't see their faces because they were facing the other way. He didn't hear what they were talking about either.

Next, he saw another young boy, but this one didn't seem to have anything special like Naruto and Sasuke. He had brown hair and looked normal. The boy was holding a couple of books and looked a little puzzled. There were two adults close to him, but the visions didn't show their faces.

Suddenly, the scenario changed to a large plain field that looked like a desert. And there was a mighty-looking figure standing at the center. It was a man with a long vest and a unique staff-like weapon. He seemed ready for a battle with someone. He looked dark. Nothing about him was fully visible, except the abnormally large amounts of chakra that were coming from him. Clearly, it was a very powerful shinobi, and someone that Pedro had never seen—yet.

Why was he having these visions?

What was his connection to all of them?

Was there any connection to begin with?

He didn't know the answers now. He had no idea that these were visions of the future in the Human Realm, and that he would play a key role in it. However, the one he saw next wasn't unknown for him:

He saw Zet again. Zet was getting ready for a battle with someone who had just arrived.

"I see; I will need to use my most powerful sage mode to fight him," said Zet, and his eyes started to turn yellow, with a violet color surrounding them as well.

Then, the visions changed quickly to the same white snake that had been shown before with Naruto and the other Kages. There was something truly evil about this particular white snake. It felt as if a bottom-less menace was hiding within it. The snake kept coming closer and closer, then it attacked!

It was just a vision, but it seemed very real.

After that, the darkness embraced everything again, and a deep and evil laughter was heard. Somehow, the laugh reminded Pedro of the same white snake that attacked, after moving towards him. It felt like a bad omen.

The visions in the darkness stopped after that. Peace returned to the black void, but Pedro couldn't feel quite in peace after seeing that white snake for the first time. Seeing Zet again wasn't soothing either. However, the multiple visions about this guy named Naruto were like a light of hope. The others were also unknown to him, but none of the visions had more impact on Pedro than those of Naruto and the snake. They were like polar opposites. Naruto made him feel hope and the snake brought a feeling of despair.

After all the visions were gone, he began to feel sleepy and, little by little, he felt that the black void was getting farther and farther away from him. It was as if some force was bringing him back. He could feel it.

Then, he lost all consciousness.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Death and The Leaf


	13. Chapter 13: Death and The Leaf

**CHAPTER 13: Death and The Leaf**

When Pedro opened his eyes, he was feeling much worse than the day when he awakened at the medical cabin, after the battle versus Jounen. He was on the same bed of branches where he saw himself and Maida in the visions.

Maida's healing abilities and her mangekyou sharingan had reverted the last things that happened to him. His eye was not crushed and his life was intact, as if Zetsu's branches had never grabbed him. In spite of that, he was in a bad condition because the impact of opening half of the body's chakra gates and the aftermath of the battle itself were still fresh on him.

He extended his right arm to the side and he immediately felt someone else's hand. He didn't have to see her to realize that it was the hand of the woman he had been with the last months; it was Maida, the one who made him feel the power of love once again.

The awareness of her death struck him like an ice blade that was cold and lifeless, just like her hand. The impact of this realization was even worse than the battle's aftermath.

His eyes got very wet and he cried, but it was not because of his physical pain. He had lifted himself from the branches and saw Maida beside him. Her eyes were closed and she had not suffered as much physical harm as him, but she was never going to be with him again. The unique and great love that he had found was gone. An emotional loss of this magnitude was hard enough to make anyone cry—even a brave ninja like him. Despite all his training and previous hardships, he was human and had real feelings for her.

Unfortunately for him, seeing Maida was just the beginning. He began to grasp what happened in the village when he looked around and saw the destruction everywhere. He also saw familiar faces, such as chief Barton. It didn't seem like anyone at the plaza was alive.

"Can anyone hear me!? Is anyone nearby!? I need your help!"

He yelled from the top of his lungs, but no one answered. He tried to stand while also lifting Maida with him, but she was way too heavy for his current condition. He didn't have the strength to carry her body's weight and himself in that state. Nonetheless, he had to help any other survivors and he also needed some way to cure himself.

Somehow, he knew that no one was going to come. He could feel it. It was as if he had already seen it was going to be that way. This new feeling seemed a little strange to him. However, it also reminded him of his visions before; it felt very similar.

"Can anyone hear me!?"

He yelled again, even though he already knew the answer.

Nonetheless, he wanted to believe that there were survivors and he knew that he was going to need someone from a healing squad to help, since he had no skills or training as a medical ninja. He looked around and there was only one place where his intuition told him that he could find the great help he needed. It was the village's south exit nearby, which led straight to The Leaf.

It was a long stretch though. The Leaf was four miles away and even if the ninjas there would intersect him one mile before reaching Konoha—The Leaf's main and largest village, which was pretty much a small town—he still had to walk three miles to reach them. This was going to be an odyssey in his condition, but every minute was critical to save every survivor at his small village. Therefore, he didn't waste any time.

With pain in his heart, he had to leave Maida's body behind on the bed of branches. This was the only way to save the others. He grabbed one of the large branches, which was broken, and used it as support. He had to get close to The Leaf as soon as possible. He was sure that they would help, and they had to have many skilled medical ninjas too.

He didn't notice any difference in his right eye, but having one of Maida's sharingans was influencing his way of thinking already. The truth is that he would have never left the village that day without her eye's vision. However, it allowed him to see that going towards The Leaf was the best course of action to take next.

He was just one hundred meters beyond the south exit, and he already felt that there was no way he was going to make it for three miles. His struggle was the equivalent of having to walk three miles either using just one leg or carrying sixty pounds along the way. And this was after an intense battle. He knew he couldn't do it, but he kept going anyways. If there were survivors, he was their only hope.

Along the way, he thought about the people from the village and the moments that he had shared with them. Many people, including Carl, Kenn, and the chief, came to him in the form of memories. That helped him to go much further, until he had no other choice than to stop.

Then, a light of hope knocked on his door. As he looked at the path towards The Leaf, he saw a large group of men were coming his way. They were still about one mile away, but judging from their clothing, it was likely that they were an Anbu squad from The Leaf.

Pedro became desperate at that moment. Every minute was crucial to save the survivors. He needed to reach them fast!

"Hey! Hey! We need your help!"

He could barely yell and was starting to feel dizzy, as if he was going to lose consciousness again. He began to walk towards them again and increased his pace. He had to ensure he could lead them to the village before anything happened to him.

When he was getting closer to them, the branch he had been using got stuck and he fell on the ground. He was feeling worse, but the group was very close to him already, and he kept moving towards them.

Suddenly, two ninjas with masks fell from the trees nearby and both stopped him. One of them put his foot on him and the other pointed his sword at him. They had moved really fast. The two were wearing fox-looking masks, body armors, and headbands with The Leaf's symbol on them. Clearly, they were Anbu agents from The Leaf.

"The village two miles away… the other survivors need your help, you have to go there now!"

Pedro was at his limit and, based on his condition, it was obvious that he needed medical attention. However, the Anbu team had other priorities, which included neutralizing any close threats. In their eyes, even Pedro had potential to be a trap or the start of one.

They had begun to tie his hands when the large group arrived, and the old man at the center of the group stopped them:

"Leave him like that, don't tie him, and heal him. We need a medical ninja with him now!" ordered the old man.

"But, lord Hokage this man may…"

The Third Hokage interrupted the Anbu member in a way that made it clear it was an order, even though he didn't raise his voice at all:

"Do it now."

They untied Pedro and he started to move with his hands and feet on the ground, getting closer and closer to the man at the center. When he got one meter away from the Hokage, all he Anbu members unsheathed their weapons. The Third raised his hand to stop his Anbu guards.

"What happened here?" asked the Hokage. And Pedro answered:

"Our small village was destroyed by powerful rogue ninjas… please save the ones that survived… hurry, there is no time…"

It was clear that the survivor had been involved in a major battle. He looked like a total mess and was hurt. His fatigued voice and the way he looked showed clearly that something truly serious, like what he said, had happened to him.

Pedro couldn't distinguish the Hokage's face clearly, but he could see his Kage vest and the large red hat, which were proof of his identity. However, the Hokage and everybody else saw Pedro's face clearly. The Anbus reacted instantaneously:

Two guards jumped at the sides of the Hokage, two others pushed Pedro's face to the ground, one grabbed his hands, and all the others were ready to attack either with their weapons or their jutsus.

"He has a sharingan eye!"

"Guard the Hokage!"

The Anbu squad was concerned with what they saw, but the Third Hokage seemed very calm and confident. He looked as if he knew that nothing was going to happen—at least, not from the wounded ninja they had found.

He talked slowly, but firmly:

"You guys overdo it with your guarding duty sometimes. I am old, but I can still take care of myself. Didn't any of you recognize that this is one of the members of our new ally clan? Our alliance has not been sealed on the document, but they are part of The Leaf already. They have been since my last talk with their chief. Now, half of you will go help the survivors at their village and the others will come with me."

Obviously, he didn't seem concerned or scared about the sharingan at all.

Then, the Hokage got closer to Pedro and whispered:

"Do not worry, we will help them."

The Hokage's voice was reassuring and those words were what Pedro needed. After he heard them, he allowed himself to let go. He passed out slowly, knowing that the help that they needed was already on its way.

"Sir, allow me to stay nearby in case anything happens," said one of the guards.

The Hokage smiled.

"Sure, you can come with me."

Considering the situation, the Hokage was too calm, but he had very good reasons for it—reasons that no one but him knew about.

"What should we do with him?" asked two of the other ninja guards.

"Bring him with us to The Leaf. He needs special attention from our medical experts to recover quickly. Unfortunately, he may be the only survivor from our new ally, so make sure that you treat him well."

Another group from The Leaf had already reached the small village before Pedro met this Anbu squad, but the Hokage didn't want to give him the bad news in his condition. Was he hiding something?

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had other plans for Pedro Namikaze.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Hokage's Test


	14. Chapter 14: The Hokage's Test

**CHAPTER 14: The Hokage's Test**

When Pedro woke up at The Leaf, he didn't feel any of the injuries from before. He had been healed. He also noticed that the clothes he was wearing were all white. Everything had been taken away, not just his broken black shirt and the orange pants, but also his remaining knife and the foot guards he had on.

Two experienced ninjas from The Leaf had been waiting for his awakening. It seemed like they had orders to watch him. The one in the left had gray hair with a strange—but cool-looking—hairstyle; his hair was pointing sideways to the right, rather than forward or backwards on his head. He also had most of his face covered, revealing only half of the right side of his face. The other guy, in the right, had black shiny hair and thick eyebrows. Both had the type of ninja vests that were used by the squad leaders at large ninja clans. They had to be at least at his level, or even better than that.

The gray-haired one talked first:

"It looks like you are finally ready. Come with us. We will show you where you can get new footwear. You can also shave there if you wish."

His voice was friendly, but it was obvious that they were there, primarily, to keep an eye on him. The other one continued:

"We will take you to the Hokage. He wants to see you as soon as you are ready."

Then, the one with the covered face handed Pedro and eye patch.

"You will have to put this on your right eye before we go outside and keep it on until we reach the Hokage."

It didn't make much sense to Pedro, until he saw himself in a mirror. It was a sudden shock to see that his right eye was exactly like Maida's sharingans. It was one of her sharingan eyes! He realized that this was what she had done to him in the vision he had before. It was real!

However, the vision wasn't his biggest worry; he felt brokenhearted at the thought of her sacrifice for him…

"Hey! Hurry up, we don't have the whole day! The Hokage is waiting for us!"

The guy of shiny hair was running out of patience.

Pedro understood why those two had been picked to take him there: they didn't know anything about the sharingan he had, so they were taking precautions. Certainly, those two were there to kill him if he attacked anyone. And, just like them, he didn't know what to expect.

Nonetheless, this was The Leaf, so he had hope that they would not be enemies for him.

After he finished, he put on the eye patch and left with them to meet the Third Hokage. They walked through the humongous village, which was like a small town. Pedro saw most of it with his free eye, until the gray-haired ninja was stopped by a blonde boy:

"Master Kakashi when are we having our next mission together!? I am getting bored of doing easy missions with Sakura and Sasuke!"

The boy was very energetic. He was wearing orange clothes and The Leaf's headband, which had the symbol of The Leaf's clan at its center.

"Naruto, I have something else to do now. I will get back to you three after I am done. You should be at the training grounds now."

Naruto wasn't pleased.

"What about you master Gai? May be you can give us taijutsu training and teach us the ultimate technique in taijutsu!"

The guy of the thick eyebrows answered:

"That technique is far too dangerous Naruto. You guys should start training other techniques and not worry about that. I'll see you and the others later."

Gai smiled and made a thumbs up gesture with his hand, hoping that Naruto would not ask him anything else about his special technique—which was opening the body's chakra gates. He knew that this technique was not recommended and it was meant to be a last resort; it was far too dangerous, and it pretty much guaranteed defeat for the user if it wasn't enough to win. Not to mention that, if all chakra gates were opened, the resulting power was too great for a human body to handle, so the user would die after the limit was reached. Gai wanted to avoid talking about this technique with Naruto. Thus, he looked the other way to continue walking to the Hokage's place.

(Kakashi and Gai are characters from the Naruto show. Kakashi has a normal eye and a sharingan eye, just like Pedro; that is why he covers his other eye. Gai is the taijutsu master of The Leaf and the only one with true potential to open all eight chakra gates. Furthermore, these events take place several months before the Chunnin exams season of the Naruto show, but after Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura became Kakashi's team.)

Naruto left afterwards, but before that he looked at the one that, surely, had something to do with their mission. Pedro saw him too.

Pedro had been thinking about Maida's sharingan—his new right eye. However, this was even more shocking. He already knew the blonde boy. He was the same one from his visions and had the same name. He was going to become both a sage, like Zet, and the Hokage of The Leaf someday-according to what Pedro saw.

Why did he have those visions? What triggered them? What was their connection to him? He had begun to suspect that his visions were connected to Maida's sharingan somehow. He never had them before.

They continued walking until they reached the Hokage's building. Kakashi went in first and asked Pedro and Gai to wait. He saw the Hokage inside and confirmed that it didn't seem like the survivor knew anything about the sharingan. In fact, it felt like he didn't even know he had it. Thus, he probably didn't know how to use it either. After that, Pedro was led to the Third Hokage and both Kakashi and Gai were dismissed. Pedro also removed the eye patch that Kakashi gave him.

The Hokage was not alone. There was a tall white-haired man with him who had long hair, a red and green ninja vest, funny sandals, a hard headband shaped like a toad, and a painted red line on each cheek. The man also had a backpack with a large roll resting on his back. His personal style was funny, but his face didn't look funny at all. It was obvious that this guy had to be another high-ranked ninja from The Leaf.

The Hokage looked just like before with his Kage vest and his smoking pipe.

"I am glad you here Pedro Namikaze. It's good to see you well and on your two feet. You probably know this already, but you were the only survivor from the catastrophe that occurred at your village."

Pedro was going from one sudden shock into another since he woke up at The Leaf. The news about the village were difficult to accept, but, on the other hand, he knew that he had never told them even his first name. How did he know it already?

Pedro talked before the Hokage could say anything else:

"Wait… Lord Hokage, how do you know my full name? Is there something you know that you are not telling me?"

Pedro's voice was a mixture of surprise and serious concern.

Then, the other ninja whispered beside the Hokage:

"Old man, are you sure that we can leave him free and untied like this? Isn't he a threat?"

The Hokage smiled and removed the smoking pipe from his mouth:

"Relax Jiraiya, we can trust him."

Then, he looked at Pedro:

"Barton told me many things about you and the other ninjas from his village, including your full names. I looked forward to having you at The Leaf. Also, don't call me Lord Hokage; I have a name, it's Hiruzen, or master Sarutobi, as some call me."

Pedro was somewhat relieved with that answer, but the Hokage was still fairly suspicious. He seemed to know too much. It was true that he had felt at the village that he was the only one alive there, but he had ignored it. The Hokage seemed to know even that. How was that even possible?!

"Pedro, I know it is hard, but there is no time for you to mourn your great loss. There is something that must be done, but before that, tell me, what do you desire the most now?"

His doubts weren't clear, but Pedro could not have disbelief for the only place where he could find his purpose after the tragedy. Thus, he chose to believe in The Leaf—the place where he wanted to be from the very start.

"I want to join The Leaf to fight the rogue ninjas that did this and any other clans that do things like it. I want to attain the power to achieve this goal and, with the help of The Leaf, I can achieve it. Hiruzen, please let me be part of your special Anbu squad."

Hiruzen smiled again and Jiraiya looked surprised.

"Excellent answer, just as I expected from you. However, you are not ready yet. You can't fulfill your purpose, defeat the ones that destroyed your village, or join us yet."

The Hokage's words were the words of a wise old man who had been a mighty shinobi of The Leaf, and its leader, for more than half of his life. Nonetheless, Pedro was still not sure about whether he could trust him or not. He felt as if he could see that he was hiding something important from him, and his feeling was exactly the same as when he felt that he was the only survivor at the village. It was as if he could see the truth beyond all the covers above it. He wondered for the first time if this had anything to do with the sharingan, and if Maida had the same ability as well.

Hiruzen continued:

"Do you see that over there? Go and grab it. You are going to need it for what is coming."

The Third Hokage looked like he knew exactly what he wanted and where things were going. Such calmness and certainty seemed a little contradictory, so they obviously made him seem a little suspicious in Pedro's eyes.

Pedro went to the table that the Hokage pointed to. When he reached it, he lifted the small cover over the object there and when he saw what it was, he knew that the Hokage was hiding something—or even many things—from him.

The object that Hiruzen said he would need was his sword. He didn't know where it was and he was only carrying one knife when the Hokage's squad found him. There was no way he could know that was his sword. Obviously, many things were hidden from him. However, if this was the worst-case scenario, he knew he didn't stand a chance against a Hokage-level opponent. He wasn't ready yet!

As Pedro grabbed the sword and turned around, his sharingan eye started to respond to the situation. He looked straight at Hiruzen, who was as calm and confident as ever. Then, he asked the right question, while his sharingan eye intersected with Hiruzen's eyes:

"Do you know me already?"

Even he wasn't quite sure about asking that question, but it felt like the best one, and his intuition—or rather, the sharingan eye itself—was confirming to him that it was the one to ask indeed.

Hiruzen smiled once more. His smile seemed friendly, but after what happened Pedro's trust for him had been broken.

"Yes, I know you already, Pedro Namikaze," answered Hiruzen.

The red sharingan eye was starting to make Pedro look like he could be a threat, so Jiraiya prepared himself, in case it was necessary to take him down. He didn't know anything about him, but apparently, his old master, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had some serious business with this guy.

However, Hiruzen revealed something at last—although, it was not everything.

"I have been watching you since you arrived at Barton's village. I have an artifact that allows me to do that. It is a technology that the other clans don't know about. It doesn't help for battles, but there are many other good uses for it."

Hiruzen breathed, before what was coming, and then he continued:

"I knew that Madara's daughter and his grand-daughter deserted from our ally clan, the Uchiha, and were given shelter at Barton's village. I always knew he omitted that information from his reports to us. I know that you are a good earth-style ninja who can even open chakra gates. I saw you training. You always looked forward to the day you would join us."

Pedro grasped Hiruzen's words and, as he began to understand what they revealed, he realized that if the Hokage had seen that much, then he had seen everything. The problem with that was obvious: why didn't he save them?! Pedro still felt that not everything was being said:

"If that is true, then why didn't you save our village? Why did The Leaf allow the catastrophe to happen?"

He didn't sound happy at all, even though he clearly was controlling himself quite well. Jiraiya was ready, just in case any sudden moves were made.

Hiruzen didn't smile anymore, on the contrary, he got completely serious:

"I saw many things indeed, but the day when those unknown rogue ninjas destroyed your village was one of the very few when I saw nothing. They must have done something, or may be, it was a malfunction. I got worried and went one day earlier than we agreed to seal our alliance, but it was too late. I am glad I was able to save you at least. And I am glad that you have passed the first half of my test because I believe you have potential to help The Leaf to fight against what is coming."

Pedro was disheartened at first because it felt like no one could have helped Maida's village to escape its dark fate, but he was also relieved because it was clear that the Hokage was not evil. In fact, he was a good man. He just took his testing procedures very seriously, like any great teacher and leader would. The truth was that he intended to awaken doubts in Pedro to test his reactions. He also wanted to see how far ahead his sharingan could see or if it could see anything at all. He had found his answers for both goals. Pedro didn't know what it was, but he was capable of seeing that he was hiding something from him. Knowing how much Pedro could see was essential to what was ahead and to how he would proceed.

"I am sorry Pedro, I needed to see how you would react to that. It was necessary for me to know that your faith on The Leaf wouldn't be broken easily, and that you would be able to voice your concerns, even if they are connected to someone like me. Now, let's walk to one of the battle arenas at The Leaf, the one that is close to the Hokages' monuments. There you will do the second half of the test. If you can pass it, I will give you a very important mission and you will become one of my elite guards. If not, you can't be the one I will select for it and your goals may not be fulfilled. However, I will still allow you to live at The Leaf."

(The Hokage monuments are the faces of the first four Hokages of The Leaf, which are carved on a mountain, close to Konoha—The Leaf's main village and where the current Hokage lives. The Third Hokage is the ruler, instead of the Fourth, because the Fourth died to save Konoha, during the great attack of the Nine-Tails years ago. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was a great hero that gave up his own life to save The Leaf.)

Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Pedro left to the location that Hiruzen intended for this battle. On the way, Pedro asked:

"If the first test was about my trust and conviction, what is this one about? Do I have to fight you Hiruzen?"

The Third Hokage laughed.

"No, not me, you will fight Jiraiya under my conditions."

When Jiraiya heard that, he could barely believe it:

"Old man, are you going crazy? Don't tell me that this is why you called me and made me travel all the way back to The Leaf! I thought there was a serious problem here!"

Jiraiya looked aggravated, but the Third was calm.

"Relax Jiraiya, I didn't call you for this, but you will be useful here too. Later, we can talk about Orochimaru and about a special boy that I want you to train eventually."

Jiraiya still wasn't pleased. He had seen that this guy wasn't a bad person or an obvious enemy, so the idea of having him fight him without reason didn't make much sense.

"Do you really want to make him fight me? What did he do to you? He seems ok to me. Why don't you fight him yourself if you must see him in a battle?"

The Hokage didn't bother answering all of Jiraiya's questions because he knew he would do it:

"There will be some rules, but yes, you are the one I want him to fight and I didn't expect you to complain so much about it. I guess you haven't changed one bit."

Jiraiya put his right hand on his face, but kept talking:

"The years must be getting to you master Sarutobi. May be you should retire from being Hokage already old man."

"And who should be the Fifth Hokage? You?"

Hiruzen asked Jiraiya, but Jiraiya remained silent and it looked like he had already accepted to complete the Hokage's test for Pedro.

Hiruzen smiled like before.

Everything was working just as he expected. And he didn't plan to retire from being the Hokage anytime soon either.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Hokage's Test (Part 2: Vs. Jiraiya)


	15. Chapter 15: The Hokage's Test ( Part 2 )

**CHAPTER 15: The Hokage's Test (Part 2: Vs. Jiraiya)**

When they arrived at the area where the other part of the test would take place, Pedro saw that it didn't look like a standard battle arena at all. There were many trees nearby, and even two houses were in the way. It certainly wasn't a good location to use any serious elemental jutsus.

"Hiruzen, do you want to do the test here?"

Pedro was a little curious, although not surprised. After what the Hokage had done before to test his responses, nothing was surprising anymore. Soon, he found out that there was a reason for this too.

Hiruzen replied:

"Yes, this is where Jiraiya will test your abilities. Then, I will decide. Whatever you do, don't take him lightly; he was one of my first disciples many years ago and, today, he is one of The Leaf's elite ninjas."

Jiraiya laughed.

"Old man, you are going to scare him with all that. Shall we get started already?"

Jiraiya noticed that Pedro was more focused on checking out the place and he wasn't very close to them, so he lowered his voice and whispered something to the Hokage:

"Surprise tests are not your style master, why would you give this priority over dealing with Orochimaru's rogue clan and other threats we have?"

Hiruzen looked at Jiraiya:

"I need you to focus here now. We can talk about the rest later. I want you to do this challenge with the intent to win. Consider it a mission."

There were things that even Jiraiya didn't know, but he didn't question the Hokage, he trusted Hiruzen's judgment:

"Then, do you want me to make sure that he won't pass?"

The Hokage replied:

"Yes, but don't kill him and don't hurt him too much. He is very valuable for The Leaf."

Pedro was not close to Hiruzen and Jiraiya at that moment—he was checking out the unconventional battle site—but, soon, they called him.

It was time to begin.

"There are some conditions for this second test. Pedro, you will fight against Jiraiya for three minutes. If you can take him down or remain undefeated for longer than that, then you will pass. If you cannot accomplish any of those two, you won't pass. I will let you live at Konoha, but you can't be one of my Anbu guards if you don't pass."

Pedro thought about it for a few seconds: three minutes only!?

And winning wasn't required; if he remained undefeated during that time, it would work too. Was Jiraiya really such a difficult opponent?

Clearly, Jiraiya was no amateur, but Pedro didn't know anything else about him, so he didn't know what to expect.

"First, let's go to that house there. Jiraiya will leave any weapons he was at the entrance and you can pick up two more, besides your sword, which makes it no more than three weapons for you Pedro."

The house looked like a mini-armory of ninja weapons. There were normal and explosive shurikens, small knives, explosive knives, explosive tags, and some swords.

"You can carry only three of these, and that includes your sword," repeated Hiruzen.

Jiraiya removed a knife he had, but Hiruzen knew him well, so he was skeptical about him:

"Leave all your weapons behind; I am sure you have more than that."

Jiraiya complained:

"Geez, old geezer you are becoming a pain with this test. Ok, I will…"

Then, Jiraiya removed other three small knives he had: one from his green vest, another from his toad-looking ninja headband (no one would have thought that thing had a knife hidden there), and a final one, which was attached to one of his sandals.

When Pedro went to pick up two extra weapons, he thought about using three small weapons and leaving his sword. However, that was going to give away that he was thinking about trying to survive the three minutes undefeated. He also thought about using jutsus, but his intuition told him that he would need his sword. When he looked at all the choices with the sharingan, the sword felt crucial, even if jutsus were more effective. He wondered why his sharingan made him feel that way.

Eventually, he gathered a bunch of weapons in a small pile and added two inside the pockets of his white pants. He also grabbed a sword belt to carry his sword on his back. Hiruzen and Jiraiya were not able to distinguish what were the two extra weapons that Pedro picked. This was the reason why he picked them quickly from a pile that had all types. This would give him a minor advantage.

"There is one more important handicap for this test," added Hiruzen, when they left the house.

Jiraiya looked at him a little serious:

"What are you going to tell me next? I can't use jutsus either. Is that it? Or do I have to fight with two fingers only?"

Jiraiya was being sarcastic; however, he was a little concerned. He knew it wasn't Hiruzen's style to give this sort of test, much less to involve him in this sort of thing. Nonetheless, he was going to do it, if this was what the Hokage considered necessary.

Hiruzen revealed a clock he had for the challenge and replied to Jiraiya:

"Not quite. You will only use jutsus and any other techniques that require chakra. This is why you don't need to have weapons. Pedro, you can only use a single jutsu or technique during the three minutes, and do not open more than one chakra gate. If any of you violate any of the conditions, you fail automatically."

The Hokage changed the clock to count down from three minutes.

Jiraiya expected this challenge to be easier for him, since he could use all his techniques. All he had to do was taking down the opponent in less than three minutes. It seemed simple.

On the other hand, Pedro started to see why the Hokage had chosen that unconventional arena with tons of trees and two houses in the way: it was the perfect place for a test like this. He wanted to test his actions, just like before, but now it was at a battle where he had the bigger disadvantage. Nonetheless, the abundance of trees in the terrain made it possible to pass such a test, even without jutsus. The only real problem was that he didn't know what Jiraiya was capable of; however, that was likely to be the case with any new powerful enemy anywhere.

In addition, Pedro understood why his sword seemed more important for his sharingan eye. He would not be allowed to use more than one jutsu. It felt as if the sharingan's power wasn't just about seeing things; it also helped with making the right choices for the near future. At least, it felt that way. He wondered whether Maida knew about these things or not. She never talked to him about her sharingan…

"Once I activate my clock, the countdown will begin. You will know the three minutes are done when you hear the loud sound that this makes."

Then, Hiruzen placed the clock close to him, on a large rock, and removed his Kage hat. He was going to watch the whole thing from there.

"You two have one minute to stand where you will begin," ordered Hiruzen.

Jiraiya didn't move, he stayed where he was, but Pedro chose another area because there were dozens of trees nearby. It looked like a small forest. He planned to go through the three minutes undefeated, mainly, because he didn't know anything about Jiraiya's techniques. He had to see more of him before attempting a direct attack. He would use the terrain to his advantage. He also planned to use both his single jutsu and an open chakra gate from the very start.

When the minute was over, Hiruzen started the challenge:

"Are you two ready? Begin!"

The seconds started to run away immediately.

Pedro threw an explosive knife several meters in front of himself to create a smoke cover that would hide his strategy from Jiraiya. Then, he activated his chakra gate and used his jutsu. Finally, he ran towards the dozens of trees nearby to avoid a direct battle with Jiraiya for as long as possible.

Needless to say, Hiruzen knew Jiraiya, so he knew that this test was going to be difficult against him, regardless of Pedro's strategy.

Jiraiya knew that three minutes was very little time, and he didn't like the fact that he missed what Pedro did behind the smoke, so he took the challenge seriously from the start.

"Summoning jutsu! Come forth Gama!"

A huge three-meters-tall orange toad with blue spots and yellow eyes appeared beside Jiraiya.

"Gama, an enemy ran into the forest there and we have to catch him in less than three minutes!"

The toad didn't like the time limit:

"Why three minutes? Is there a human bomb around here?"

Jiraiya had a sudden "are-you-kidding-me?!" expression on his face, but he knew him and his other summons—from the Realm of the Frogs—very well, so he got instant cooperation:

"I will give you a special frog dessert if we catch him in two minutes!"

After Gama heard "dessert," he quickly looked at the large section of trees and landed right there with just one jump. Jiraiya also ran towards the area.

"Frog-style oil wave jutsu!"

Both Jiraiya and the huge frog performed the jutsu and the whole area there was covered with frog oil.

"Come out now or I will set it on fire! You have five seconds! Four, three…"

Jiraiya was ready to use a fire-style jutsu on the oil, but Gama saw Pedro.

"Wait, there he is!"

The toad pulled out his super long tongue, like an arrow that was shot from a bow, and caught one of Pedro's legs. Then, it began to pull, but when Pedro grabbed his sword and was ready to slash the frog's tongue, Gama noticed it and dropped him. Pedro ran to exit the trees from the other side, but the big toad was way faster than it looked. It landed where Pedro was before in a matter of two seconds and used its tongue again. This time, it grabbed his body and the sword to make sure that he would not be able to slash its tongue. However, a surprise awaited Gama:

"Look beneath you!" yelled Pedro.

When Gama looked down, he saw an explosive tag attached to the tree where he was standing; it was too close. And the thing exploded right there!

Gama jumped, but the explosion caught him; and when he fell down, two other big trees fell on top of him too. He had to drop Pedro and couldn't stand up right away.

Exactly when that happened, Jiraiya looked back at the clock and one minute was already gone! He could not lose any more time! He was about to use the fire jutsu when he perceived someone coming from behind. And he knew who it was.

The attacker jumped, ready to use his sword on him. He was very fast, but Jiraiya didn't need to move and managed to act even faster:

"Guardian spikes jutsu!"

A shield of white spikes that started at Jiraiya's hair quickly covered his whole body. When Pedro's sword collapsed with Jiraiya, it couldn't do anything to him. Pedro quickly jumped back and gained some distance from Jiraiya, but it wasn't enough. Jiraiya's spike shield fired back every single spike at once! Luckily, only a few spikes actually hit Pedro.

He charged at Jiraiya once again, but the toad sage was ready:

"Whirlwind shield jutsu!"

The wild whirlwind that formed around Jiraiya pushed Pedro to the ground. Then, Jiraiya jumped and, with the help of the whirlwind, landed on the roof of one of the small houses, which was nearby. From there, he saw the clock and it alarmed him. There was only one minute and a half left!

"I am sorry, but this is the fastest way to complete this mission now, I will moderate it to make sure I don't hurt him too much," thought Jiraiya.

Then, he began to form a ball of fast-moving chakra and wind on his right hand, while he moved his other hand around it frenetically. The ball of chakra looked bright and powerful.

Jiraiya jumped towards Pedro ready to clash his technique with his sword:

"Rasengan!"

The result was inevitable. Even though the rasengan was not at full power, it was still mightier than any earth clone. Once it came in contact with the sword, it broke—revealing it was earth-based—and as soon as it clashed with the clone's body, it shattered into pieces. Jiraiya couldn't believe it. He was wasting time with a clone! The real one had used the earth-clone jutsu from the very start. (This was the same technique that Pedro used versus Su.)

Meanwhile, Pedro—the real one—saw Jiraiya performing the rasengan technique and he remembered it instantaneously. It was the same technique that he had seen in his visions, done by an older Naruto. Jiraiya could do it too. May be that meant that Naruto would eventually learn that technique from Jiraiya…

Jiraiya's adrenaline skyrocketed!

There were only forty seconds left and he had to fulfill the Hokage's request. He never thought he was going to need him for such a simple challenge, but there was no time to win anymore, unless this summon was used.

"Summoning jutsu! Gamagante!"

The head of a giant frog started to appear along with its body. Both were appearing slowly.

"Gamagante bring the human that is hiding in those trees and neutralize him now! We don't have any time, hurry!"

The giant frog was scary, but it obeyed Jiraiya like a pet. It began sucking in every living body from that direction. Pedro tried to hold onto a tree, but the suction from the air was too strong, so he was pulled in.

He fell inside the frog's mouth, which still wasn't fully formed. He was going to use his sword on its tongue, but when he realized that the mouth was almost fully formed, he quickly placed the sword in the open spot closest to him, which was the right cheek. This would delay it, giving him a chance to exit the mouth through that hole (the frog had no teeth). As expected, it could not close itself right away because the sword blocked the flesh from materializing at that spot. It wasn't going to last forever though.

At that time, an avalanche of saliva fell on Pedro. The saliva started to drain away his chakra and his strength quite fast, but he couldn't remove it. There was no way to remove it there, so he went towards the open cheek. He had to escape the giant mouth first! The cheek was about to finish its formation, but he fell out of the frog's mouth through that open spot before it closed completely. It was all thanks to his sword! (This was the real reason why he needed it. His sharingan didn't see this, but it could perceive he would need the sword.)

Jiraiya almost had a heart-attack when he saw that. Pedro could die from the impact with the ground from falling all the way from up there—it was about fifteen meters high. His mission was to make him fail, not to kill him. The Hokage had even mentioned that he was very important for The Leaf.

Luckily, Gama caught Pedro with its tongue before he reached the ground. Jiraiya also used the oil wave jutsu to reduce the strike of the fall on Pedro, but it wasn't going to be enough to avoid severe injuries or broken bones.

Gamagante also finished its formation. It spat out Pedro's sword and complained about how bad the enemy tasted—he thought it was the sword.

Gama placed Pedro on the ground. The toad looked mad and all beat up from the explosion before.

"Forget about the dessert! I am having this guy for lunch first!"

Then, something began to ring abnormally loud, like a fire alarm gone crazy.

The three minutes were over!

Pedro stood there and said:

"I am not defeated yet…"

However, he barely finished saying it. He fell to the ground right after that. It was past three minutes already though.

At that time, Jiraiya's main concern was reducing any harm for Pedro to the minimum; he wasn't thinking about the Hokage's request anymore. He knew Gamagante's saliva was meant to neutralize others by weakening them fairly quickly, so it had to be removed from him as soon as possible.

"Gama use a water jutsu to remove this thick saliva from him now!"

Gama had other things in mind:

"Where is my dessert!?"

"You didn't catch him in two minutes, so there is no dessert! Now, do the water jutsu on him!"

Gama did a frog-style water torrent jutsu on Pedro and cleaned him up, but the toad was mad at Jiraiya:

"I am not getting beat up for you again. You owe me ten desserts! Next time you summon me do it at a human cake store! And this guy wasn't an enemy. I won't believe another word you say, unless you summon me at a cake banquet!"

Gama was in a bad mood, but it was no surprise after what happened.

"There is no such thing as cake banquets! Come on! We work well in a team, don't be such a pain!"

Gama didn't wait any longer. He disappeared from there and returned to the land of the toads and the frogs. At least, there was food there without getting beat up—it was nothing like human cakes though.

Unfortunately, Gamagante got the other message late:

"Jiraiya, you need a water jutsu?"

"Wait! Gama already did it!"

"Frog-style water wave!"

"Nooo!"

The ending of the Hokage's test could not have been worse for Jiraiya. He was soaked and the place was half-inundated.

Gamagante smiled and left too. Jiraiya wasn't mad at him though.

"Good boy, I know you didn't do it on purpose Gamagante."

(The toads were very good friends for Jiraiya since he was a kid. He was the only ninja from the Human Realm that was capable of visiting the Realm of the Toads, thanks to a contract he made with them. He had been summoned there when he was a kid by accident. He was also the only ninja from The Leaf who had become a sage, and he did it at the world of the toads. He was trained in the sage arts by a wise leader at their world.

This was the only realm where Zet didn't go. He didn't believe that the toads were powerful and he didn't think their sage mode could hold a candle against the other sage styles he mastered, which included the earth sage mode from the monkeys, the slug sage's regeneration from the Realm of the Slugs, and the snake sage mode from the Realm of the Snakes.)

Jiraiya lifted Pedro—he was mostly unconscious by then—and went back to the Hokage carrying him. Hiruzen had to move from where he was, but he had watched everything from the start.

"I am sorry old man, it was beyond three minutes wasn't it? And he was still conscious, so he must have noticed it."

The Hokage was pleased.

"He was standing at the three minutes mark, but he collapsed afterwards. You can say he barely made it. Do not worry Jiraiya, it was not absolutely necessary for him to lose. However, now I know that he can accomplish the mission I have in mind for him."

Jiraiya was soaked, but still quick-witted:

"He is very good, but he still needs more training. I believe that with more training he can be in your special squad, which is what he wanted. However, there is something I don't understand. Why do you have so much interest on him? Is there something you haven't told me?"

Hiruzen put his Kage hat back on and answered:

"He has more passion about The Leaf and about the ideals of peace and justice of our founding fathers than any other outsider I have ever known."

Was that truly all there was to it? Jiraiya trusted the Third Hokage, whom had been his mentor and teacher for many years, so he didn't question him anymore. He believed that Hiruzen surely knew what he was doing; even though he, clearly, didn't tell him everything about Pedro Namikaze. Regardless, Jiraiya believed that the Hokage's judgment was better than his own.

"What will you do with him now?"

"I plan to train him myself," replied Hiruzen.

Jiraiya was surprised:

"Really?"

"Yes, the mission I have in mind for him is important for The Leaf, but also dangerous in many ways. He needs to be ready and he still has to learn many things for that."

"I'm glad for him then. You are one of the best teachers at The Leaf old man. I will take him back and leave him at the hospital. He will need to rest after the crazy test you put him into."

Jiraiya grabbed his knives and left, carrying Pedro with him. Hiruzen followed him, one minute later. He had many things to think about.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was now more certain than ever, after what he saw. It had to be done. It was already written that he had to train Pedro Namikaze. It was necessary. He tried to change it by ensuring that Jiraiya would be serious about winning. However, Pedro managed to pass the test anyways—against all odds, since Jiraiya was one of The Leaf's top ninjas and one of the three legendary sannins. May be, fate could not be changed…

(During one of the great ninja wars Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade fought against the most powerful leader from the large clans and survived. The powerful foe left and allowed them to live after the battle. However, he also began to call them the three sannins from The Leaf, and the three were known as the three legendary sannins after that. They had been Hiruzen's first students when they had the same age as Naruto, forty-two years ago.)

Hiruzen chose to trust what he knew and to do what had to be done. He knew things about Pedro Namikaze that no one else knew—not even Pedro himself. However, Hiruzen chose to believe. When the time was right, Pedro was going to know what he already knew today. That was the way it was meant to be.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Mission


	16. Chapter 16: The Mission

**CHAPTER 16: The Mission**

Two days later, Pedro was taken to the Hokage's building again. Jiraiya had already left Konoha by then; he and the Third had their talk and Jiraiya had been sent to investigate some of the matters they talked about.

(Jiraiya was, in a way, a special agent for The Leaf. He lived travelling outside of the clan, but he had contact with Konoha. Whenever a problem or a suspicious situation arose, he was called back. He didn't even use The Leaf's headband; his headband was from the mount of the toads at the other realm. However, he was and would always be from The Leaf; and he did missions for the Third Hokage whenever he was called back.)

Hiruzen and several Anbu ninjas from his personal squad were there. He gave Pedro a set of Anbu clothes and gear that looked just like the ones the others had. Hiruzen announced that Pedro would become one of Konoha's special agents soon, after he completed various trainings with him. Then, he dismissed everyone. Pedro and Hiruzen were the only ones left at the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen looked as calm and confident as ever. He was wearing his Hokage vest, as usual.

"How do you feel about what happened two days ago?"

"I think I could have done better… how did Jiraiya summon those giant frogs? I certainly wasn't expecting that."

"You have to be ready for the unexpected Pedro. That's the way things work in this ninja world. Summoning is one of the special skills I am planning to teach you, so you will know more about it soon."

Pedro looked very glad. Clearly, the Hokage considered his performance at the test satisfactory. (Hiruzen planned to train him regardless of whether he passed or not, but Pedro didn't know about that.)

"Are you really going to train me? What changed your mind to do this?"

Hiruzen smiled before he began:

"First, you passed my test. Second, I need someone like you, whom I can trust for a unique mission that will make a huge difference for The Leaf. The truth is that many powerful threats have arisen in the last decade. The wars may be over, but the conflicts among the large clans are still alive. And it is only a matter of time before we are forced to get involved seriously. If the major conflicts can't be stopped peacefully, a new war can arise.

To make matters worse, Orochimaru, a very powerful rogue ninja that used to be my student has become a serious threat for us. He has been involved with evil experiments that use animals like snakes, and even other human beings. Recently, I found out that he created the Clan of Sound, a rogue clan that has no alliance or allegiance to any clan or any nation. Our sources found that he also plans to attack The Leaf.

After I saw what happened at your village, I also realized that there are other unknown threats that may be even worse than the ones I know about.

The Leaf is a strong clan and we have many skilled ninjas here, but we may need another secret weapon to confront all the evils that are coming, and to ensure our victory at the end.

The mission I have for you requires someone without ties to anyone, someone who can go on a quest for The Leaf, leaving everything else behind. The ninjas here are great and I trust them, but they have families and many other ties. It takes someone like you to accomplish this. I need someone from outside The Leaf that is as passionate about this clan as I am. I haven't found anyone better than you."

Pedro went from an expression of happiness to one of strong interest mixed with deep concern:

"Hiruzen, what is this mission about?"

"I need you to find the way to travel to one of the other realms. The best choice we have now is the Earth Realm of the Monkeys, which is where my summon and my friend Enma is from. I can give you the key to do it, by teaching you how to summon, but you will have to find the way yourself. Even Jiraiya doesn't know for sure; he was summoned to the world of the toads by accident. And he was able to go back afterwards because of the contract he made with them there. You will have to find the way to travel to the Earth Realm on your own.

I am too old, so I cannot do it myself. However, if you find the way, I need you to travel there and become a sage at their world. I don't know how much time it will take. It may be years.

If you are successful, I need you to come back here and become a teacher of the sage arts for The Leaf. The number of sages in our world is even less than the number of jinchurikis (these are the humans that have one of the nine tailed beasts sealed within; Naruto is one of them). Jiraiya is currently the only sage at The Leaf and he definitely isn't the best candidate to teach it. He even told me the frogs are the only ones who can teach the toad sage mode, but I am sure he just has a contract with them where he promised not to teach their techniques here.

The other sage at The Leaf was my former master, the First Hokage Hashirama Senju, but he no longer lives and he left no record about how he did it. (The Fourth Hokage also achieved the sage mode at the world of the toads, like his young master Jiraiya, but Hiruzen avoided mentioning him.)

I believe that this will be the secret weapon that will help our clan to create a new peaceful world and to ensure it remains that way, even if we have colossal forces against us.

Do you understand?"

Pedro was completely astonished with what the Hokage had shared with him. He was honored though; the Third Hokage had seen little about him and he had known him for even less time, yet he already perceived him as someone this trustworthy—just as any other ninja from The Leaf, or even from the Anbu squad itself. At the same time, Pedro had many questions, and the answers didn't seem simple or even possible. Despite looking and feeling hopeful, he had to ask:

"How am I going to find the way to do this Hiruzen?"

Hiruzen closed his eyes for a while, then he opened them and answered:

"I don't know Pedro, but I know that my training is going to help you. What matters now is just one thing: Are you willing to do this for The Leaf? Are you willing to sacrifice everything to ensure that the good side will win? And, most importantly, are you willing to take this difficult path, if that is what it takes to turn your dreams of a peaceful ninja world into a reality?"

These were the questions of a lifetime and this was a decisive moment for Pedro Namikaze. Was he the adequate person for such a mission? He already knew the answer to that:

"Yes… I am willing to do it for The Leaf and for our world, but… how did you know that this was my dream?"

Hiruzen was ready for such a question, of course.

"I know more about you than you think. I have watched you since the moment you arrived at Barton's village. You told this to Maida Uchiha. And I am very glad that you did because I wouldn't have recognized you as an ideal candidate for this mission otherwise. I am glad that I can count with you and I am sure that everything I am going to teach you will come in handy. However, you are going to have to find the answers that no one knows on your own. Even I don't have all the answers."

As Hiruzen finished saying that, someone knocked on his office's main door.

"Don't let anyone else from the village see your sharingan," whispered Hiruzen. Then, Pedro sat on the nearby sofa with all his new gear and closed his right eye. He began to look for an eye patch, but there was none.

"Who is it?" asked Hiruzen.

"It's Kakashi, I need my mission's details before I leave with my team."

"Come in Kakashi."

Kakashi Hatake entered the room, but he wasn't alone. Behind him, his young team—Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno—also entered the Hokage's office.

Kakashi went to talk to the Hokage, but Naruto immediately recognized the other guy that was sitting there, with a set of Anbu clothes and gear. It was the same guy that Kakashi and Gai were taking to see the Hokage, a couple of days earlier. The guy seemed ok, but Naruto had never seen him before at Konoha.

"Where are you from? I haven't seen you before. And what happened to your eye? You had it covered the other day."

The boy was a little suspicious, obviously; and he couldn't stay quiet either.

Pedro kept his sharingan eye closed and placed his left hand over it to ensure that no one would see his open eye. He was glad to see the boy from his visions and had a warm friendly voice when he answered him:

"Naruto, I come from a small village that recently joined The Leaf. We were attacked by a powerful enemy, and I survived the attack. I lost sight from my right eye in that attack and was in bad condition, but I am better now. Your Hokage saved me and allowed me to join Konoha. I am glad that I will be able to serve The Leaf and fight alongside all of you to protect this clan. I will be having missions soon, just like your team."

Naruto lost his suspicion about the stranger. He was a very friendly guy.

"Really? What kinds of jutsus do you know?!"

Pedro smiled and he was about to tell him, when Sasuke—Naruto's teammate—interrupted them abruptly:

"Naruto we are not here to chit-chat, don't ask me about the mission's objective later!"

Naruto didn't like Sasuke's way:

"You jerk! I am making friends here, unlike you with your dry and bossy attitude!"

Pedro was too focused on Naruto and he was glad about talking to him, so he had not looked at the others. However, the feeling he had while talking to Naruto almost died completely when he saw Naruto's teammates.

The dark-haired boy, Sasuke, was the same boy that he had seen with sharingan eyes in one of the visions he had before. There was no mistake about it. Also, the pink-haired girl, Sakura, was the one that was talking to Sasuke in his vision. Pedro had a really bad sensation because, for a moment there, Sasuke made him feel and remember the lethal white snake, which had been the worst part of his visions.

Pedro almost opened his sharingan eye. Luckily, he had his hand on his face covering his right eye; otherwise, they could have seen it.

Naruto noticed that something was wrong:

"Mr. are you ok? You don't look alright, you got pale all of a sudden."

"It's ok Naruto, I still haven't recovered completely…"

Kakashi got what he needed and he was ready to leave. He had been informed about Pedro earlier by the Hokage himself. (Kakashi used to be a member of the Third Hokage's special Anbu squad, and he was also a student of the Fourth Hokage.)

"We got our mission, so it's time to leave," said Kakashi to his team.

Sasuke and Sakura left and Naruto stayed at the door. As Kakashi passed by Pedro he whispered:

"Good luck."

Kakashi kept walking and was about to close the office's door when Naruto said something:

"Hey mister! What is your name? You know mine, but I don't know yours yet!"

Pedro smiled and answered:

"It is Pedro Na…"

The Third Hokage interrupted him suddenly:

"Naruto it is time for you to start your new mission. There is no time to lose! I also have to give a mission to Pedro here."

Naruto got the message.

"Nice meeting you Pedro!"

Then, he and Kakashi left too.

The boy was incredibly energetic, optimistic, and friendly.

There was an aura of positivity around him without a doubt.

As soon as they left, Hiruzen warned Pedro about something else:

"There is something important that I haven't told you. I want you to avoid saying your last name at Konoha. It will be better for you that way."

"Why is my last name important?"

This new requirement seemed a little strange at first, but the Hokage cleared Pedro's doubts:

"Nearly every ninja at Konoha and at The Leaf is from here. We all have well-known last names. Yours gives up right away that you are not from The Leaf. I don't want anyone here to doubt that you are one of us. If you mention your last name, some may even think that you are an undercover spy from another clan. I know that is not the case, but just to be safe, don't say your last name here."

Pedro understood Hiruzen's concern:

"Don't worry, I won't say it again."

Pedro was not suspicious about Hiruzen anymore, even if it seemed like not every detail was revealed to him. Little by little, it was becoming clear that the old man was quite trustworthy and, also, very wise. As the Hokage, he surely was doing everything for The Leaf's well-being.

Hiruzen gave him a white eye patch, two white shirts, and a set of two training pants, one green and one brown. All this was besides the Anbu gear that had a mask, protectors, a light-weight body armor, some shurikens, and a small sword.

"Decide whether you want to wear a mask, or just an eye patch, to accomplish the mission, and for any trainings that we do here in the village. Showing your sharingan will bring questions from the people at Konoha, so it must stay hidden too. Sasuke, the boy you just saw, is known to everyone as the only survivor of the Uchiha clan, so there will be questions, and even lack of trust, if others see that you have a sharingan eye too."

"Hiruzen, what about Jiraiya and your personal Anbu squad? They know I have a sharingan."

"Don't worry about them, my personal squad and Jiraiya won't ever talk about this Pedro. I trust them with my life and they trust me."

Hiruzen remembered something.

"Before I forget, you also need to have this. You will be a ninja from The Leaf from now on. You earned it."

He handed Pedro a new ninja headband with a metal forehead protector that had The Leaf's symbol at its center. This was the headband and protector that all the ninjas from The Leaf used.

Finally, Hiruzen placed his right hand on Pedro's shoulder.

"I want you to rest today. Think about everything I said. Tomorrow, come back here with that headband on, and your training with me will begin. Learning everything you can with my training will be your first mission at The Leaf, before the real one begins."

"Thank you Hiruzen; thank you for everything. I won't disappoint you."

The Third Hokage smiled. Everything happened as expected…

"There is no need to thank me. Just make me and The Leaf proud."

Pedro left with his new clothes, the gear, the headband that would mark his destiny, and a great feeling of anticipation for the near future. He tied the headband on his forehead before he left the Hokage's building. It was hard to believe that the future could be bright, after just one week away from the great tragedy where he lost Maida and everything else. He was now a special agent of The Leaf and the Third Hokage's apprentice…

Hiruzen walked towards the large glass windows at his office after Pedro left. He looked at Konoha from there and at the carved faces of the Hokages on the mountain. In particular, he looked at the Fourth Hokage's face.

(The Fourth had saved The Leaf from destruction and was the clan's top ninja at the time of the tragedy. The Yellow Flash of The Leaf, as they called him, was the fastest ninja in The Leaf's history and one of its biggest heroes. Hiruzen cared about him as if he was his own son, but even he couldn't do anything to save him that day.)

Hiruzen didn't know what was going to happen to Pedro, but he knew that this was necessary for The Leaf.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Apprentice


	17. Chapter 17: The Apprentice

**CHAPTER 17: The Apprentice**

The next day, Pedro went back to see the Hokage in the morning. He was carrying his sword on his back and was using the white shirt, the green pants, the Anbu gear, the white eye patch, and The Leaf's headband. He looked like a true ninja of the clan, even thought this was his first week there.

Hiruzen was already waiting for him outside with four Anbu guards that had masks on.

"I am a busy Hokage, so we will train every morning from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and you will continue practicing what you learned each day on your own. I have many things to do for Konoha, including your preparation for the mission. Your only mission is to dedicate yourself in body and mind to this training to reach your full potential. When we get to the training area that I selected, outside of Konoka, you can remove your eye patch. I want you to get comfortable using your sharingan eye, even if my trainings won't be focused on it. Are you ready?"

He was looking forward to becoming a better ninja with the Third Hokage's training:

"Yes sir! I am ready!"

"Don't tell me sir, I am not a monarch; just call me Hiruzen, or master Sarutobi, like my old students used to call me," said the Third. Then, they all left for the first day of training.

The location was one mile away from Konoha and there were no people nearby. It was just Pedro, Hiruzen, and the four guards that would be watching their surroundings, and participating in some trainings as well.

As soon as they got there, Pedro put away his white eye patch. Once he saw the signal from the guards, confirming that the area was clear, he opened his eye. The red eye and its three black commas were always awakened, just like when Maida had it—before she awakened its mangekyou form, which Pedro had not awakened yet. The Hokage would not teach Pedro anything about the sharingan eye, but he knew it could become a powerful advantage someday, so he wanted him to get used to it and to learn its quirks on his own.

Hiruzen was also looking forward to training Pedro Namikaze. At 70, it had been many years since he taught anyone, and he had not fought any serious battle in a long time as well. However, he was still one of the wisest and most skilled ninjas from The Leaf.

After Pedro revealed his sharingan, Hiruzen gave his hat and the Kage vest to one of the guards. The Hokage was ready to start with his samurai-looking training uniform. Pedro was quite impressed; despite his old age, the Hokage looked like a great ninja warrior. Obviously, he wasn't muscular or tall, but his shape was excellent for a 70-year-old and it was obvious that he was a master of ninjutsu and taijutsu. Hiruzen would involve some of the guards eventually, but he planned to lead Pedro's training himself. He couldn't afford not to; this was extremely important for The Leaf.

"The purpose of training is to make yourself better than what you were yesterday. Improving your techniques, like you did before, is good, but we also want to make sure that you avoid past mistakes and broaden your horizons through the training. That will help you more than just strengthening your same set of techniques. You are a skilled earth-style ninja, so you must learn to use a natural terrain to your advantage. How many times did you reshape the terrain to get an advantage over your enemy in your last battle, and in the one before that?"

As Pedro remembered the challenge with Jiraiya and the battle versus the white rogue ninja (Zet), he felt ashamed and a bitter sadness approached him. He never even thought about the terrain in the battle with Jiraiya; he was too worried about using the trees to gain time. Before, he only attacked Zet and dodged attacks; meanwhile, Zet managed to dominate the remainder of the battle as soon as he used his advanced earth technique to create the hill. Afterwards, Zet's earthquake jutsu reshaped the whole terrain. Zet used his earth sage skills to attack and to give himself an advantage at the same time.

Pedro replied to Hiruzen after the memories left him:

"At the village… I never used my techniques to reshape my environment during that battle, and the enemy did it at a large scale. I couldn't beat him afterwards, even using all the chakra gates I was capable of opening. The truth is that reshaping the terrain is not one of my strengths as an earth-style ninja."

Hiruzen knew what to do first:

"Good; we will focus on that first. I will teach you to focus your techniques on your surroundings in order to give yourself an advantage. You will use no weapons and no direct earth-style jutsus to attack me. Focus on your natural surroundings to get an advantage over me."

They focused on that training for the whole week. Then, as soon as Hiruzen noticed Pedro's improvements, he made three of the four Anbu guards join, making it far more difficult for Pedro. By the end of the third week, it was already difficult to get very close to Pedro Namikaze without being intersected by something around you. This proved to be one of the advantages of the earth-style, and Pedro had been mediocre at it, until now. It was also an undeniable edge against enemies that didn't pay any attention to their surroundings and that just focused on attacking their target only.

The fourth week, Hiruzen explained to Pedro how innate chakra natures worked. They are the natural inner chakra of ninjas (in Naruto's Human Realm), which allows them to use certain elemental jutsus with far more ease than those who do not have the natural affinity for that type of technique.

Everyone was capable of becoming good at elemental ninjutsus of a particular type—such as earth, fire, water, lightning, and others—based on the type of element that their inner chakra was more compatible with. However, some people's chakra was good to excel at two different natures of jutsus. Thus, they were capable of becoming great users of two different styles. These people had a primary nature, which was often obvious, and a secondary nature, which could be developed via focused training. There were also an extremely small number of ninjas that had good natural compatibility with even more than two elements. These individuals were extremely scarce and the handful of them that existed throughout the history of the Human Realm were always well-known at their clans. The only exception was Zet Otsutsuki; he was the only multi-style ninja that was never well-known during his time at the Human Realm, as his original human self.

Pedro Namikaze had natural compatibility with two elements, but no training or experience using the second one. Hiruzen already knew this, based on what he had seen. More wind than necessary was often involved with Pedro's earth-style techniques. Clearly, his primary nature was earth and his secondary nature was wind.

(For the record, the Third Hokage was one of the few that had compatibility with more than two natures of elemental jutsus. He could use various types of jutsus very well, as if that style was his primary nature.)

Hiruzen was ready to start the second phase of Pedro's training:

"In order to fulfill your true potential as a ninja, you must learn to exploit all the types of jutsus that you can use. You don't have any experience with wind-style techniques, so that is what we are going to do next. You will only practice wind-style techniques for a week; then, I want to see you use wind together with earth. Although you will always be an earth ninja first, you must also become a wind-style user if you have been given that natural gift."

Just like before, Hiruzen involved some of the guards as soon as he noticed improvements, in order to raise the training's difficulty. Pedro's second nature was improved after a while. He wasn't going to be a mighty wind-style user like Jounen, but his earth techniques were enhanced and he was capable of doing some wind-style jutsus too; one of them was the wind shield jutsu, which Jiraiya used against him during the Hokage' s test.

Pedro Namikaze was dedicated to the Hokage's training completely. He even continued it on his own for much longer after the Hokage and the other four finished his three hours of daily training. However, he always found some time to have dinner at one of the public food places at Konoha; and he had many good talks with other villagers from The Leaf there. He never mentioned his mission, but everyone knew that he was doing some sort of important mission for the Hokage; that was obvious.

In the mornings, when he was going to the usual training spot, he always said "good morning" to the villagers he saw along the way. He wasn't like other Anbu that always had a mask on and a cold attitude out. They weren't necessarily bad, but way too many Anbu behaved with no friendliness at all, as if they were just trained killers and nothing else.

One day, an old woman remembered someone because of him—someone that was just like that, even though he looked different. She remembered Minato, the Fourth Hokage. It was nice to see that there were still others like him—others that were friendly and good-hearted, despite being trained Anbu ninjas.

Furthermore, Pedro also saw Naruto often. They would wave hands at each other and say hello, but both were always busy with their missions, and with their trainings. Nonetheless, seeing the boy that would be Hokage someday always gave Pedro a feeling of happiness. It made him feel glad about being at The Leaf…

Eventually, the time arrived for Pedro to learn new techniques that were not elemental, but that would be even more useful than most elemental jutsus in many situations. Such techniques were heavily guarded and only selected ninjas were given access to them. However, Hiruzen knew that Pedro didn't know them and that he would need them. He planned to teach him the shadow clone jutsu and the replacement jutsu.

(A secret ninja scroll was needed to learn such techniques, but all Kages—including Hiruzen—possessed the scroll of secret techniques.)

The Hokage had the training planned already, but he wanted to confirm something first:

"When you had the test versus Jiraiya, why did you create only one earth clone? A better strategy would have been to create several with a single jutsu."

Pedro confirmed Hiruzen's suspicion right away:

"I… I don't know how to make more than one, or maybe I can't. Even that one takes a lot out of my chakra, that is why I only use it in extreme situations and when I am at full power at the beginning of the battle."

Hiruzen moved into the third phase of his training for Pedro:

"I knew you had to learn more about this. Most of your techniques are focused on attacking and you know just a few defensive jutsus. You know very little about techniques used to distract or confuse, or about techniques that can get you valuable information and an advantage against unknown opponents. This is what I plan to teach you next. You need to learn the shadow clone jutsu and the replacement jutsu.

Shadow clones are much weaker than elemental clones, but because of that, you can make more of them. They will disappear after they receive some damage, but as soon as they are gone, you will also know what they experienced. If powerful opponents use their techniques against your shadow clones, you will find out what they can do and what their attacks feel like without putting yourself at risk. Once the clones disappear, you will know what they knew during their short time of existence. You may also attack alongside them; and if you are clever, the enemies may not perceive which one is the real you, until all your shadow clones are gone. The only disadvantage is that they use high amounts of your own chakra, so the number of shadow clones you can create depends on your body's chakra levels. You probably can make only three at the moment, but it is a good number to start.

(Naruto could make hundreds of shadow clones because he was a jinchuriki; therefore, his total inner chakra was his own chakra plus the unbelievably colossal chakra of the Nine-Tails beast.)

The replacement jutsu allows you to switch your position with the position of an object or a person that you marked with the replacement seal. It will only work if they do not notice the replacement mark on them because it can be removed very easily. This is an extremely convenient jutsu if you are faster than your opponent or if there are many objects that you can use around you."

Master Sarutobi started the third phase of his training for Pedro, which was focused on how to fool opponents using shadow clones, replacements, and what Pedro had already learned in the previous phases. Hiruzen revealed the scroll of secret techniques—a highly guarded scroll that showed how to learn and perform its advanced techniques. He started by teaching Pedro how to create a single shadow clone and how to do a simple stationary replacement with an easy object, rather than with a person in movement. The first replacement was quite successful, but Pedro couldn't create his first shadow clone until the next day; apparently, he had trouble with that technique, which was something that didn't surprise the Third Hokage at all…

They spent one full month training these techniques; first, objects were used, then the guards joined and Pedro had to achieve successful replacements with the other ninjas, rather than with stationary objects. The shadow clones were also more complex than they looked. Pedro couldn't make more than four, no matter what he did, but this was already far better than a single earth clone.

Finally, master Sarutobi made him use all the new tactics and techniques that he had learned against the four guards, whom had always cooperated with the training from the very beginning. The idea was to teach them in isolation, so that Pedro could grasp the essence of each technique separately. Then, Hiruzen had to make sure that Pedro would also learn how to use them together effectively. Hiruzen chose to watch at first, to catch any deficiencies that he saw with Pedro's style. However, he also joined later on. They spent two more weeks focused on that mixed training.

Often, they had to go straight to the hospital after the training, but The Leaf's medical ninjas were some of the best, so minor bruises didn't stop the training for Pedro Namikaze.

Hiruzen always took the training seriously. He truly intended to make Pedro improve as much as possible, in the five months they had, before the Chunnin exams arrived. Hiruzen already knew that by that time, Pedro was not going to be at The Leaf…

One day, Hiruzen and Pedro had a long talk at The Leaf's largest plaza. Hiruzen knew that only the last and most important phase of the training was left: the summoning jutsu. However, before he brought it up, Pedro asked him about the Fourth Hokage. The giant faces of the first four Hokages, carved on the nearby mountain at The Leaf, were visible from there.

"I have heard many good things about him. A great hero who died to save The Leaf and someone who, despite his superior skills, was friendly, approachable, and a great guy overall. Hiruzen, can you tell me more about the Fourth?"

Pedro had been looking at the carved face of The Leaf's Fourth Hokage for a while.

Hiruzen was caught a little off-guard by this unexpected question, but he saw no harm in mentioning something about Minato.

"He was a blessing for Konoha and the fastest ninja I ever saw. His 'flying thunder' techniques and his skills for the replacement jutsu were unmatched. Even I couldn't keep up with his speed, and I was younger back then. The best thing about him, however, was that he was a good person that chose to use his power for good and for others, rather than for self-gain. He would have been an even better Hokage than me. Unfortunately, the tragedy happened just two months after he accepted the position of Hokage."

Pedro wondered why this man's name or stories of him were almost nonexistent at the village, even though he had meant so much for The Leaf.

"What was his name?"

Hiruzen feared that such a question would come up, but he avoided it confidently and masterfully:

"Let's not talk anymore about him Pedro. It reminds me of the worst day in the history of The Leaf. It reminds me of a day when hundreds died. It was one of the worst days of my life, and it was also the day when I failed to keep a promise for a good old friend. Everything collapsed that day.

Unfortunately, the Fourth is also tied to everyone's memory of that horrible day when the Nine-Tails attacked The Leaf. It is wise to avoid such taboo topics here. However, make no mistake, he was, is, and will always be recognized—Hiruzen pointed towards the carved face of the Fourth Hokage on the mountain. That is why you have heard he was a hero, and he is remembered that way… Now, it is time to complete our training with the last jutsu that I will teach you: the summoning jutsu."

Hiruzen was extremely tactful with his words and with the way he said them to diminish Pedro's interest about the Fourth, and to focus him on the training's finale.

"Your only concern right now must be to learn the last technique you need to start the special mission that you will do for The Leaf."

"I understand Hiruzen, but weren't you going to show me the summoning technique at the training area tomorrow?"

Hiruzen stood up—quite relieved because Pedro didn't continue asking questions about Minato.

"No, I am going to show you now. You will start your training for it tomorrow, but you will see it today. Hide over there and make sure that the one I will summon doesn't see you, no matter what. Before you learn how to summon an intelligent inhabitant from another realm, I want you to see what it is like."

(All the inhabitants of the other realms were intelligent animals that, despite being animals, behaved just like humans do. Some of the other realms included the Earth Realm of the Monkeys, the Forest World of the Slugs, the Rock Realm of the Snakes, and the Water Realm of the Toads.)

Hiruzen and Pedro were close to the Hokage's building; it was almost at night, but there was some sunlight left; and no one else was there.

Hiruzen walked to the location where he planned to summon Enma, who was an old friend, his main summon, and a king at the Earth Realm of the Monkeys. He noticed that Pedro was well-hidden, but he was going to see them well. It was time. Hiruzen opened a scroll and performed the technique using it:

"Summoning jutsu!"

A really large and robust ape with a big white beard appeared beside Hiruzen. Both were facing away from Pedro, so he didn't see the ape's face right away. However, he noticed it immediately, and the realization struck him coldly. This looked exactly like one of his visions from that day.

The man with the Hokage's vest was Hiruzen and the robust monkey-like ape that was standing up—just like a human—was Hiruzen's summon.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Summoning


	18. Chapter 18: The Summoning

**CHAPTER 18: The Summoning**

Hiruzen's summon was a tough-looking old ape between seven and eight feet tall. However, he resembled a human more than a monkey because he had clothes, including a high quality coat that was a tradition for the royal monkey tribe. He was also standing upright, just like any person. Moreover, the way he talked and behaved was very human. A closer look, however, revealed some major differences: his hands, feet, and face were like a monkey's. He also had a long white tail. Basically, Hiruzen's summon was a big, well-dressed, ninja ape with human paradigms, and with human-like intelligence as well. This was the first time that Pedro had seen such a thing. He had seen wild beasts being summoned before, but never other intelligent animals. Unfortunately, he was too far away from them to hear what Hiruzen and Enma said…

After Enma realized he had been summoned at The Leaf by Hiruzen, he quickly adopted the mindset of preparing for a grand battle. He started looking around, expecting to see some major threat that he and Hiruzen would have to subdue. He was ready to move quickly, use jutsus, and even join Hiruzen to fight as one using his special ability.

(The monkeys of the Earth Realm have the ability of turning themselves into a unique living weapon, which can be used by someone else, while they continue having full consciousness of what is happening. Enma could into an unbreakable bo staff that could be enlarged and shortened in an instant, by the will of its user. This is why Hiruzen became a master user of the staff as a weapon—so that he and Enma could fight together as one.)

Despite the peaceful sight, Enma was convinced that something big was waiting for them; otherwise, why would Hiruzen summon him?

"Sarutobi, where is the enemy?!" asked Enma with his deep voice.

The Hokage replied calmly:

"There is no enemy this time Enma."

That was certainly unexpected, so Enma didn't change his "battle" mindset immediately:

"What!? The world is always falling apart on your side when you summon me here. There must be some kind of threat. I know you and you know my bad mood. You wouldn't summon me unless it was necessary!"

Indeed, the monkey king was a good friend, but he had a bad temper for sure, especially when he was expecting to find a battle and there was none.

"Relax old friend, there is no threat this time and there is no enemy here for us yet. I just wanted to see how you were doing. It's good to say hello to a good loyal friend for a change."

Enma started to calm down, but something was amiss:

"Really? That's not typical of you, but I am glad you called me then. It's good to see The Leaf in a peaceful state after all the things that happened years ago."

(Enma was also using The Leaf's headband. It was an old gift from Hiruzen and king Enma liked it, so he used it often, even at the Earth Realm.)

Nonetheless, if there was a single living being that the wise Hiruzen could not fool, it was Enma… (they had been friends since they were kids; they met sixty years ago)

"Why don't you tell me why you called me here already? I know it wasn't just to say hello and shake hands. What is happening Sarutobi?"

(Enma was used to calling Hiruzen by his last name.)

"Many things are going to happen soon Enma… things that my crystal artifact can't see and that I can't predict. Bigger threats may come for The Leaf in the form of rogue clans and new enemies. And, the conflicts with the other ninja nations haven't ceased. I fear that, eventually, they may lead to a fourth ninja war, after all these years of partial peace. It would be a shame if the Human Realm returns to its old destructive ways. The Leaf must be protected and the new threats must be stopped.

Also, I know that the events that will connect your world to The Leaf will happen soon. I don't know when or how, but I can perceive that many things—good and bad—are already on their way."

"Being afraid has never been your way Sarutobi. Although, I can understand you very well because of my own issues at The Royal Valley in the Earth Realm."

"I am not afraid. I am hopeful Enma. I hope that everything ends up well, no matter what happens, and that I did the right things, as the Hokage, to raise our odds for the best outcome, not just for The Leaf, but for everyone."

"I understand you. Our positions are very alike, even if we are in different worlds. Have you had any other encounter with your old pupil Orochimaru? He is one of The Leaf's new enemies, isn't he?"

(Enma's world had tribes instead of clans and was less advanced than the human world, in terms of technology, but the same ninja dynamics were present there. Enma was the king of the largest and most important tribe, which was the equivalent to being a Hokage at The Leaf in the Human Realm. Rogue ninjas also existed in the realm of the monkeys.)

Hiruzen replied, showing some level of worry in his voice for the first time in the last months:

"Yes, he is. I haven't seen him again, but my sources tell me that Orochimaru has grown more powerful than before. He also created the Clan of Sound, a new rogue clan that may be a threat for The Leaf and for the other clans as well. What about you Enma? Are the problems with your oldest son still…"

Enma changed his normal mood to a more bitter one and interrupted Hiruzen right away:

"Let's not talk about him. My son Dormon is one of the reasons why I get you. Someday, I may be forced to dismantle his rogue tribe myself and to bring him to justice. For now, I hope that moment is not soon. As the king, however, I will have no other choice if he becomes a threat for The Royal Valley. You will also need to take care of Orochimaru, even if he was a beloved pupil once."

Hiruzen stayed quiet and thoughtful.

Enma sat down. It was nice, for a change, to talk with his only human friend—and the only human he trusted—without having to battle traitors like Orochimaru or mighty beasts like the Nine-Tails.

"Sarutobi, you said that the event that connects our realms is likely to happen soon. Why is that?"

Enma was thinking about that. He liked Hiruzen Sarutobi, his old childhood friend, but, in general, he didn't like humans. Many of them reminded him of the first one—and the only one—he ever saw at the Earth Realm. The man was trained by the previous monkey king—Enma's grandfather—until he became an earth sage, like the most powerful monkeys at the Earth Realm. Then, the man turned on them with his new-gained power; he killed his grandfather and many of them. Afterwards, he left their world and continued his quest for power. Those memories had always haunted Enma—who couldn't do anything because he was just a little defenseless monkey back then—and only Hiruzen was able to make him see beyond them. The man that killed the previous monkey king was Zet Otsutsuki…

Hiruzen replied to Enma:

"Yes, I have seen some of the signals I expected, so it may happen soon Enma."

Hiruzen already knew that Pedro Namikaze was going to be involved with the connection between the Earth Realm and The Leaf, but he didn't know anything else…

They kept talking for a few more minutes. Then, Enma stood up, they shaked hands, and both smiled like good old friends. The Hokage performed the earth summon release technique to end the summoning by breaking the initial chakra seal that kept the summoned entity in the current realm. Then, Enma disappeared and went back to his royal tribe at the Earth Realm.

Meanwhile, at the Human Realm, and at The Leaf, Pedro saw everything, but he couldn't hear a single word they said—he was too far for that. One thing was certain though: the summoning technique was extraordinary. He certainly couldn't wait to learn how to summon one of these intelligent ninja monkeys. Obviously, he had no idea that it wasn't going to be easy at all…

The next day, the usual group—Pedro, Hiruzen, and the four Anbu guards—went to the training area, but the guards left them. Master Sarutobi would lead the final training for Pedro from beginning to end. It was time to teach him the summoning technique.

Hiruzen revealed and opened his summoning scroll, which was the same scroll he had used to summon Enma before.

"There are two ways to summon. One is using a few drops of your blood and the other is using a summoning scroll, like this one. For both, you have to create the appropriate summoning seal concentrating your body's chakra on your hands; then, you must focus all of your chakra to call forth a particular summon. You won't lose your chakra, but all of it must be focused on bringing your summon for it to work. If you make a blood contract with your summoned ally, you can call them without a scroll by creating the chakra seal and putting some of your own blood in it, which is already connected to the animal or the entity that you are calling. If there is no blood contract, then there must be a paper contract in a jutsu scroll like this one, and it can be used to call the ally from another realm. The scroll's contract must exist first and you must have the scroll and know how to summon with the correct chakra seal.

The catch here is that someone who possesses a summoning scroll and a contract can write the name of someone else in their scroll. Then, that person can also summon using that scroll, even if they have no personal contract with the animals from the other realm.

Your name is written on my scroll already. I will use it to teach you summoning, but you must get your own scroll and your own contract someday. You may even get a different summon than me, depending on who you make your contract with.

First, you must learn the summoning chakra seal itself. Even if you find an ally, you can't summon anyone until you know how to do the seal. You will be able to use my scroll, so you won't need to cut yourself to use the other method, which requires a drop of your blood on the seal."

Hiruzen knew that to summon with the scroll, the chakra seal had to be flawless, so it was the more difficult way to do it. However, he knew that the summoning technique was going to be essential for Pedro, thus, he planned to teach him the difficult alternative. That way he would learn it well, or else he wasn't going to make it. He knew Pedro would be able to do the other method without his help, if he managed to do this one.

As expected, the technique looked easy when Hiruzen did it to summon Enma, but pulling it off was far more difficult for Pedro Namikaze. It took him a few days to get the flawless chakra seal right for the first time and to maintain it that way, while he used the scroll underneath it to summon. When he finally got it, he only summoned a pile of dust—probably from the Earth Realm. Next, he summoned a pile of earth that fell on their heads. It was quite frustrating to say the least.

Hiruzen noticed that Pedro wasn't focusing his entire chakra on calling the specific entity for the summon; thus, he ended up summoning something else. They had to train his ability to focus chakra on one thing only in an instant. It was difficult, but Hiruzen was there to guide him and correct him.

Eventually the day of the first summoning came. (It happened forty-four days before the arrival of the Chunin exams at The Leaf.)

That day, Pedro was far more motivated than usual. It had been twenty days since they started. It was time to summon a damn monkey already! He was convinced that he was going to pull it off that day. Hiruzen had warned him about the Chunin exams at Konoha, which were just one month and a half away from that day. His training would end one month before that event, regardless of whether he had finished learning the summoning technique or not. Hiruzen had no choice, since, as the Hokage, he had to be involved with the preparations for the Chunin exams weeks before they began. Therefore, Pedro had to do it, no matter what, and he only had a few days left.

When they arrived at the training site that day, Pedro grabbed the scroll and remembered Enma. He felt the breeze, the chakra within his body, and the image of the monkey king in his mind. He was ready for it. He opened the scroll, focused on the section that he liked the most, and created the seal of summoning like never before. Then, he united the scroll with the chakra seal and focused every little bit of chakra he had on that spot of the scroll. He was certain that he was going to summon a great monkey, and he did, but it was not the monkey king…

"Summoning jutsu!"

This time it wasn't just dust, something else appeared there, and it was visible fairly quickly. A monkey from the other realm was facing the opposite way of Pedro. This one didn't look like Enma at all. He was a little less than one meter tall and had a white cape on his back with bold red letters that spelled "YONINKE." He also had a green headband tied on the back of his head. His hair was black and he didn't have a big beard like the monkey king. Clearly, this one was much younger than the one summoned by Hiruzen.

Pedro couldn't contain his excitement:

"Hey! Can you turn around and show me your face? Can you speak? What is your name? Is it the red letters on your cape? What is…"

Pedro was about to ask one more question when Yoninke—still facing the opposite way—simultaneously reached for his twin swords, which were underneath the cape, and gave a very fast somersault through the air. The monkey landed on Pedro and pushed him to the ground. It was unexpected and it happened way too fast. By the time Pedro saw his face, the monkey was already standing on him with one sword pointing at his face and the other sword touching his stomach. The monkey had also grabbed Pedro's feet with some sort of quick earth-style technique.

"You invaders picked the wrong ape when you came after brave Yoninke! Now, I will take you to the king for judgment. Behold my badass twin blades and surrender!"

This young monkey thought that he was the king of awesomeness and the mightiest ninja knight of king Enma's tribe. Part of it was right because he had great skills, but the other part was mostly his cloudy head and lots of daydreaming. He also believed that he could become the monkey king one day.

As soon as Yoninke saw Pedro's face and paid attention to what the "invader" actually looked like, he turned white, yellow, and blue—he just got a little pale, but this was exactly how he felt. He had never seen this place before and he had never seen a human before in person. He was not at The Royal Valley! (where he was just seconds ago, and where the royal tribe of monkeys lived) Despite his act of bravery to subdue the "invaders" and his display of skills, Yoninke lost all his concentration once he realized he had no idea of what happened or where he was. And Pedro used this moment to gain an advantage over him.

"Wind shield jutsu!"

The wind shield pushed Yoninke to the ground and broke the earth-based tie on Pedro's feet. Yoninke had good sword skills and was very fast, but his earth techniques were actually very weak.

Yoninke was about to counterattack with his swords, but he didn't expect Pedro's next move; he didn't even know anything about it. Pedro jumped as high as he could and, then, he did it:

"Replace!"

Yoninke was about to do his fast multi-slash technique on Pedro, but he suddenly appeared in the air and lost all his balance.

Pedro marked him with the replacement chakra seal when Yoninke had him on the ground and he was giving his "brave" talk. Then, Pedro switched places with Yoninke, but the monkey was much shorter, so he appeared higher in the air, in comparison to Pedro. This would give him enough time to stop the monkey.

"Earth bind jutsu!"

Yoninke was caught and tied mid-air by an earth-style technique that was like the quick one he used on Pedro's legs, but much stronger. His air of awesomeness was vanquished when he realized he had been caught in less than one minute into the battle. Yoninke wasn't one of the top elite ninjas at The Royal Valley, but he definitely wasn't used to losing like this either.

"So your name is Yoninke," said Pedro.

Yoninke was in a bad mood, as expected:

"Humans… how did you get into Earth Land?! Where have you taken me!? Answer!"

"Relax Yoninke, I am a friend and you are in the Human Realm, you are also close to The Leaf, which is my human village."

Yoninke almost urinated his ninja pants when he heard he was in another world—just like that. Last thing he remembered was that he was meditating close to his hut and he thought he had been ambushed by a rogue ninja from the forest (these existed in the world of the monkeys as well). He would have never dreamed of this, even in his craziest and most adventurous dreams. He felt "white, yellow, and blue" again.

Pedro noticed that Yoninke was a little shocked.

"Don't worry, I will not hurt you. I want to befriend you and then you can go back to the Realm of the Monkeys."

Pedro tried to sound as friendly and sincere as possible.

Yoninke lost his fear after a short while in shock; and now he was very pissed because he had lost really quickly and, to make matters worse, the human called him a monkey…

"Monkeys!? What you see here is a mighty ninja gorilla! Now, give me back my twin blades and get me out of here!"

It was really funny and ironic because Yoninke sounded like a commanding officer and he was the one trapped. Pedro wasn't smiling though; he had to befriend him somehow…

The truth was that the Hokage's summon was the one that looked like a large ape—Enma was taller and bigger than most men. Yoninke, however, was a normal small monkey with a "big" attitude, a cool cape, and two swords. He definitely was no "gorilla." He was just one meter tall at most.

The two swords were on the ground close to Yoninke. Pedro walked and grabbed them with one hand.

"I will give them to you and I will take you out of there, but you must promise me that you won't attack me again Yoninke. Ok? My name is Pedro Namikaze."

Pedro still had a friendly tone. Yoninke's pissed mood wasn't over yet, but he was starting to feel more cooperative.

"Namikaze Whatever, you have to promise that you are going to send me back to my beloved hut at The Royal Valley!"

"I will send you back Yoninke, just take it easy now."

Pedro had the two swords in one hand and was about to free Yoninke, but he had to make sure things were not going to get wild again:

"Yoninke, can I trust that you won't go bersek on me again?"

"I am not going to attack you Namikaze, now break this thing already!"

The earth tie was broken down and Yoninke fell down and landed on his hard and small monkey feet. Pedro handed him his swords and Yoninke placed one on each side of his ninja belt.

Pedro stretched his hand down for a handshake with Yoninke and the monkey looked up at him and crossed his arms:

"Ninja gorillas don't give handshakes, that is a thing of sissy monkeys."

Yoninke wasn't laughing either. He was very serious and said such things with a brave voice. He was quite the character for sure…

Pedro couldn't help but wonder if the other monkeys at the Earth Realm were this crazy. At least, the Hokage's summon didn't seem like this.

He replied to Yoninke:

"Well, I am a human, not a gorilla Yoninke, and you are…"

Pedro quickly realized that all hell would break lose for sure if he told him that he was a monkey—and a short one in fact—so he said something else:

"…you are a friend and this is how friends salute each other here, in the human world."

Yoninke did the "handshake" in a bad mood with one of his legs, not with a hand. He was starting to cooperate.

"Now, send me back Namikaze."

"Before I do that I want you to know that I may visit your world soon. Either that or I may have to summon you someday for backup in a battle."

Yoninke was surprised:

"Are you right in your head human? You don't know much about Earth Land do you? The king has never liked humans, he may kill you if he is in a bad mood. Besides, there are only monkeys, apes, and gorillas like me there, there are no humans. Also, why should I fight for you? I don't even know you yet!"

"I have good reasons for everything Yoninke. And I will reward you for your help. I will give you unique ninja weapons that don't exist in your world, so that you can become an even mightier ninja mo…(ups!) gorilla. Also…"

Pedro was thinking about something else when Hiruzen—whom had watched everything without intervening—called him and threw a bar of some kind of food towards him. Pedro caught it and gave it to Yoninke. It was a chocolate bar! Hiruzen knew that Enma loved it as a kid and that it didn't exist at their realm; thus, he brought one in case Pedro needed it to "tame" his first summon. He knew it would he effective—it had worked with Enma when he met him, many years ago.

Yoninke liked it very much. It tasted better and different than any food he had eaten before. That taste was divine for Yoninke.

"I will think about it Namizake, but I still don't recommend coming to Earth Land. The king is not fond of humans. I have heard him talking negatively about them many times."

"I will keep that in mind Yoninke. You can also call me Pedro."

"I will call you Namikaze. I like it better. It sounds more like a gorilla name like Yoninke."

Pedro didn't argue about it because it really didn't matter.

(Apparently, all monkeys preferred to call humans by their last names. Enma did this with Hiruzen too.)

Despite Yoninke's warning, Pedro was not concerned. He knew that it was necessary for The Leaf to have someone travel there, and that was why the Hokage had been training him. He didn't know that Hiruzen also had other very good reasons, besides the mission, to lead his training…

A little after that, Pedro did as he had promised Yoninke. He was ready to release the summoning seal, as master Sarutobi had taught him, to send back the summoned one.

"It was good to meet you Yoninke. I liked the great white cape you have with your first name on it."

"The cape has my last name, but it is my first name too," added Yoninke with his cool voice.

Pedro was surprised:

"So you are Yoninke Yoninke?"

"No Namikaze, I am MIGHTY Yoninke Yoninke."

Yoninke's "brave" voice revealed that his air of awesomeness had returned.

"Right…"

Pedro scratched his head and looked at Yoninke while he said that. He was starting to see what to expect from him. It was obvious that Yoninke was a young ninja monkey with a serious "gorilla" attitude.

After that, Pedro terminated the summoning seal that started it all, and Yoninke disappeared, leaving a small cloud of dust behind. Pedro enjoyed meeting his first summon, even though the encounter was a little crazy at first.

Then, Pedro Namikaze went back to master Hiruzen Sarutobi. He was happy with his accomplishment and ready to see the finale of his training with The Leaf's Third Hokage.

"Hiruzen, we still have days left to train. What should we do next?"

Hiruzen looked happy and answered calmly:

"Nothing."

"But, what about learning to summon with the other alternative?"

"Your training has come to an end Pedro. I taught you all you needed to know to start the real mission. When the time is right, you will learn that too, but first let me have my summoning scroll back. You completed your first summoning."

Pedro gave him the scroll.

"Tomorrow your real mission for The Leaf starts. First, you will need to find the way for you to travel to the Earth Realm of the Monkeys. Then, you will have to learn their sage arts, and you will come back to The Leaf only after you master them.

You will also need to make your own contract and get your own scroll from an ally at the Earth Realm."

Pedro trusted his master very much by now, but this sounded like making magic happen out of air:

"Hiruzen, if I don't even have the summoning scroll, how am I going to do this? I can't even summon Yoninke. Besides, even if I find a way, how am I going to convince his king to help me?"

The reality was that, considering the mission's difficulty for Pedro, Hiruzen was too calm. The truth was that he already knew that Pedro was going to find the way…

"You don't need to summon now, you just need to know how to summon to be able to do it when you get your own scroll Pedro. Here—Hiruzen took out a small map and an amulet from one of his pockets and handed them to Pedro—you will need these. My summon is the monkey king at their realm (Pedro's surprise was clear when he heard this). That is why I wanted you to see him. You will need to be able to recognize him at their realm, and you can do that now. He dislikes humans, but as you saw yourself, we are good friends. If you give him that amulet and tell him that I sent you, he will cooperate with you.

The map has a circle and a mark. The circle shows where the remains of the Uchiha clan's village are. The mark shows you where the Uchiha Stone Tablet is hidden. It is said that only those with sharingan eyes can read what it has written, and I heard from a former Uchiha Anbu that it teaches all sharingan-based techniques, just like the secret scroll that I used to teach you how to do shadow clones.

You must master your sharingan on your own and find the way to go to their realm. I believe that secret tablet may be the best place to start the mission."

It was a lot to assimilate at once, but Pedro accepted it well. However, he would have liked to train and learn more with the guidance of a great master, like Hiruzen.

"So, the training is all over now?"

Hiruzen looked back at him, a little serious:

"A ninja's training is never over Pedro Namikaze. Yes, the training under me ends, but you will have to train your sharingan on your own. It is your power and yours alone, so it is in your hands whether you will unlock it or not. You will also learn many new things as you continue with the mission and with your life's journey.

Find the way. Become an earth sage. And return to The Leaf. We will need you here.

I know that you can do this. Believe in yourself."

Pedro was finally ready. The time to start the mission for The Leaf had come.

"I will do it Hiruzen. I will find the way to do it for The Leaf. Thank you for everything. Thank you for your training. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of The Leaf."

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Secret Uchiha Stone


	19. Chapter 19: The Secret Uchiha Stone

**CHAPTER 19: The Secret Uchiha Stone**

The next day, Hiruzen and three of the four Anbu guards resumed their usual duties at Konoha during the hours of Pedro Namikaze's training, which had been completed. The fourth guard reached out to Pedro to give him a quick and important message from the Hokage.

None of the guards ever revealed their faces during the months of training. However, they talked a lot with Pedro and Hiruzen. They were friends, even though Pedro had never seen their faces.

The message was quick, but crucial:

"The Third sent me to give you this cape and to tell you that you must avoid being seen. The former Uchiha village doesn't have any visitors, but it is supposed to be holy ground that no one enters. So, no one should find out that you will enter the Uchiha village. Use this cape to conceal your identity, in case someone sees you. And… good luck Pedro, I know that you are ready to accomplish the mission that the Third gave you, regardless of what it is."

Apparently, the Anbu guards didn't know exactly what they were preparing him for. That was the nature of their position as elite protectors of the Hokage. They knew many secrets, but not all of them.

Pedro was thankful for their help. Hiruzen led the training, but they made it very challenging and that helped him to improve.

"Thank you for everything. I hope I get to see your faces and know your names someday."

The guard laughed—within the mask—and assured him about that possibility with a certain "you will."

Then, the Anbu ninja left and Pedro put on the dark yellow cape and its hood. No one would see his face like this. Therefore, he kept the hood off to say good morning to the villagers on his way—as he always did—and put it back on after he left Konoha's main entrance. He also had the white eye patch on. No one in Konoha knew about his sharingan. The Third Hokage, Kakashi, Gai, and the Hokage's Anbu squad were the only ones who knew this classified secret.

Pedro left on his own, carrying Hiruzen's map and his usual weapons—two pairs of shurikens, a pair of knives, and his sword. He was headed to the remains of the Uchiha clan's main village, which had been massacred by Zetsu (Zet and Su Otsutsuki), the masked man, Spiral, and another Uchiha from Akatsuki (Zetsu's group of elite rogue ninjas). Today, the Uchiha village was empty and most of it was just like before, but desolated. Pedro's goal was to find the Uchiha Stone Tablet to start to understand the sharingan's secrets, hoping that this would give him some clue to travel to the Realm of the Monkeys as well.

Training the sharingan wasn't his priority; however, he did look forward to learning more about Maida's special eye. (There was a lot that he didn't know about her because she never talked about her eyes and their abilities.) Regardless, the true priority was finding the way to get to the other realm to fulfill his mission for The Leaf.

He was very careful the whole way. Instead of travelling through the most visible road, he used another road that wasn't as visible due to all the trees in the way. Eventually, he reached the main Uchiha village, which was closer to Konoha than he expected.

It was about two times as large as Maida's village. The entrances available were closed or blocked—most likely on purpose. There was no sign of anyone being inside or nearby. Only the sounds of the air and the trees were present. Pedro thought about breaking one of the blocked paths, or the ground beneath it, using an offensive earth jutsu, but that was going to make too much noise. His entrance to the Uchiha clan's village was supposed to be a secret, just like the existence of the Uchiha Stone Tablet. Therefore, he found a way to get in by climbing over one of the blockages. He didn't make any noise to get in.

Once he got in, he opened Hiruzen's map and concentrated on finding the location of the mark within the village, which was where the Uchiha Stone was located. The place was like a ghost town. The tragedy there had occurred years ago. The buildings and the houses were like before, but no one had lived in them for years.

Pedro didn't remove the dark yellow hood or the cape, even though he was inside already, but he did remove his eye patch to uncover the sharingan.

After walking for a while, he found the mark's location. It had to be one of the three houses ahead of him. He looked at each one and he noticed that both, the sharingan and his intuition, wanted to check out the house at the center first. He was completely focused on that. Then, the resounding slam of a door behind him broke the quiet and desolated atmosphere all of a sudden.

In an instant, Pedro looked back and grabbed his two knives. He turned around so fast that the hood that had been hiding his face was pushed back by the swift movement, and his whole face was fully revealed. The slam came from a door that was not closed. Apparently, the wind itself had done it. Nonetheless, Pedro began to have a gut feeling that said that the Uchiha village was not as desolated as it seemed. Had someone else been there recently? Was that door left open by another visitor? Or, was there something else at the village? He quickly shook off that feeling from his head. There was no such thing as ghosts (he thought). However, the sharingan's perception never lied and it perceived the place as more than just an empty village. He didn't really know how to use its abilities yet, so he simply allowed that feeling to dissipate from his mind.

Pedro ignored the door's slam and his final thought. Then, he headed for the grey house at the center. Its door was closed, but the front window was half-open, so he entered through that opening. Inside, everything seemed normal, but there had to be something special if the hidden Uchiha Stone was at this house. Pedro inspected every visible floor and wall, but there was nothing. Then, he looked around and he realized he had not seen the places that were blocked by the furniture. There was a very large bookcase, in particular, that made him feel more uneasy than the others when his right eye—the sharingan—saw it.

There was a large lighter in front of a book on that particular bookcase. He grabbed the lighter—just in case he needed it—and moved the bookcase. It was obvious that the wall behind it was different. He began to push the wall and it started to move slowly. A hidden passage was revealed there in front of him.

Pedro entered the passage and then walked down a set of stairs. The place at the bottom looked like a sanctuary. It was dark, but he could find a light switch that illuminated it just slightly. The best part was seeing that at the end of the underground hideout, there was a large stone monument, which had to be the Uchiha Stone Tablet. On the wall behind it, there were two painted symbols that looked just like the Uchiha Clan's crest. (The Uchiha had allied themselves with The Leaf since the times of Madara Uchiha and the First Hokage, but they always kept some secrets. One of those secrets was the exact content of the Uchiha Stone, which only the sharingan—or its ultimate form, the rinnegan eye—could decipher.)

When Pedro reached the large stone, the lights and the visibility itself were too feeble, so what was written on the tablet wasn't clear. He used the lighter from before to gain a better view. As soon as the lighter's flame appeared, Pedro noticed that the large stone only had writing at the top, and he was seeing it with his sharingan eye only—his normal eye saw just an empty stone when he closed his other eye. It was clear that only the Uchihas—or the owners of a sharingan—could read it, but there was even more than that involved…

He began to read what the stone said. It had lines of black letters that looked like an ancient type of writing, but he could understand it; it was written in his same language:

"Only those with an awakened sharingan can begin to read about the secrets of the sharingan eye. The secrets are revealed on this stone with the hope that those who can learn them will use them to bring peace and justice to this world.

The sharingan has three stages: normal, which looks like any other eye; awakened, which starts to reveal its potential and its unique abilities; and the mangekyou form, which finally reveals its true power. There is also a final form that is beyond the mangekyou sharingan, and that is closer to a completely new eye than to a new form of sharingan, but information about it will only be revealed to those who already possess the mangekyou. Awakening the mangekyou will require a great deal of distress or incredible faith in your ability to do it. Events such as the death of a close friend are very likely to trigger this awakening for those that have a powerful sharingan, but there are no guarantees. Ultimately, only the owner can awaken its power at the right time.

There are eye-based techniques that can be learned and used at each level of the sharingan by anyone who attains it, but every sharingan also has one ability that is unique to its owner. Here, the most useful general techniques for an awakened sharingan will be explained. The techniques for a mangekyou sharingan will only be revealed to those who have awakened it. And your sharingan's unique ability shall be mastered by you alone."

Under those initial paragraphs written at the top of the stone, there was nothing else. The remaining parts of the front side looked empty, even though Pedro was using his right eye—the sharingan—to see them. He knew that there was more below, but his current sharingan wasn't a mangekyou, so he could not see it. Quickly, he walked to the other side of the stone, which was facing the wall at the very end. It had a lot written at the top as well, and a vast blank area below it too. He began to read it. It talked about genjutsu, the most common use for the sharingan eyes. It explained many details about it and, most importantly, it revealed the key to using it.

(Genjutsu techniques cloud the opponent's perception of reality. Those who fall under a genjutsu may see or perceive things that are not happening, and may stop seeing some things that are happening. Their perception of what is in front of them may be changed temporarily. Those who look straight at the sharingan eye, while its owner performs genjutsu on them, can easily fall prey to hallucinations. This common ability of sharingan users had been what led the Uchihas to victory many times in the past. It was also the reason why most people feared Maida's eyes, even though she was a good-natured woman.)

The stone revealed something awe-inspiring for Pedro about the key to using the sharingan eye:

"The key to using a genjutsu, or any other sharingan technique, lies on focusing the body's chakra on your eyes, just as you focus it on your hands to perform a chakra seal for summoning. Likewise, you have to give it your all to make the genjutsu appear on the eyes of your target, just as you do it to make an ally appear in front of the summoning chakra seal…"

Pedro couldn't believe it. He had experienced a kind of training that was going to be very useful for the sharingan as well. The importance of what Hiruzen taught him was starting to come to light…

Moreover, the writer of the stone's information pointed out that the users of genjutsu had to find a way to ensure that the target would look straight at their sharingan eyes when it was used. Also, they needed to visualize what the genjutsu would look like right away; otherwise, it would not affect anyone. They had to make it appear in the eyes of the other person, in the same way as they made an ally appear through a summoning. Clearly, knowing how to summon beforehand was an absolute advantage to learning how to use the sharingan. Pedro Namikaze already had it, thanks to the Third Hokage.

Furthermore, he also read that the use of sharingan techniques had to be limited because vision could be affected and even lost if powerful sharingan techniques were abused. The sharingan's power had its limits after all.

For a second there, Pedro thought he had read everything that was available. However, the stone's greatest surprise was just around the corner.

He noticed that there was a strange green glow at the very bottom of the stone tablet, right next to the floor. The lighter was starting to feel hot already, so he cut a small piece of the cape and used it to wrap the lighter. Then, he sat on the floor to see the abnormal green glow closer.

It was tiny green letters.

He didn't hesitate and, quickly, he dropped himself on the floor to see what it said.

"The one that has the special sharingan that can guide us shall be the only one that sees what the second secret stone says. If you see this, find the map to the location of the second stone. Then, read it immediately. The map is buried close to this stone. Use your special sharingan to find where it is."

Pedro Namikaze felt astonished. The black letters sounded general, as if some Uchiha guide was talking to all who could read what the stone said, but the green letters made him feel as if someone was talking to him—and only him. Were Maida's eyes truly so unique? She had never told him anything about her abilities, besides the ones that were related to healing.

He stood up right away and looked at every spot on the stone from several angles. It didn't say anything else, or, most likely, he just couldn't see the rest because he didn't have a mangekyou sharingan. Unfortunately, the stone wasn't very specific about how to awaken the mangekyou form, it just made it clear that it was not going to come easily; on the contrary, it was more likely to happen in a very difficult situation. The help from the first Uchiha Stone was over for now; it was time to find the second one.

There was no way to dig up the whole place on his own. The passage and the area where the stone was were too large for just one man to find something buried at a specific spot. He really had no other choice than to figure out where that spot was. Using the sharingan eye was the only option. He knew it had helped him to make the right guesses, and even to see what was likely to happen, in several occasions before. He didn't like to recognize it, but he knew the sharingan had helped him more than once already. Now, the time for that recognition had arrived.

He started to observe the floor everywhere, focused on using the sharingan to perceive where the map was buried. No particular location was becoming obvious to him, but he felt that the map he sought was at the passage, rather than close to the Uchiha Stone. This was contradictory, based on what the stone itself said, but the feeling was unmistakable, and he had learned to trust that gut feeling by now. The passage was still too large to find the map though. He needed to find the exact spot. It was time to try using the sharingan, in the same way as the stone had recommended. He focused his body's chakra on his right eye and tried to perceive where the buried secret was.

There was one small crack on a wall that seemed different. It felt as if it really was different, even thought everything looked the same in that passage. Once he touched the wall, he realized it was possible to dig through it; the wall's material at that particular spot wasn't very solid. He felt tempted to use an earth-style technique to break it apart, but it could make the tunnel collapse on him, so he did it with his knives and with his hands. After some digging, the knife on his left hand touched something solid. Eventually, he dug it out completely. It was a little golden box, which was smaller than his hand.

The box was open already and it had a map inside, as expected. What was not expected were the instructions that the map had on the back. It said the following:

"Walk towards the clan's main entrance, which is marked on the map, in case it is not the entrance to a clan's village anymore. From there, walk 250 steps north, 250 steps east, and 100 steps north. There, you will find the entrance to another passage, which leads to the Secret Uchiha Stone that only the owner of the special sharingan can read."

Pedro didn't waste any time. He left the passage with the new map and went back to the house above. As he pushed the bookcase back to its previous place—blocking the hidden passage to the first Uchiha stone—he looked through the window that he used to enter the house. He certainty did not expect what he saw. There was someone walking outside at the desolated Uchiha village, which was treated like a "no trespassing" holy ground by The Leaf. Someone trespassed the blocked entrances while Pedro was busy underground.

Swiftly, Pedro removed himself from the window's line of sight and grabbed his sword. He reached the window very fast. He also put on the dark yellow hood to ensure he would not be recognizable, even if he was seen. He had to see who was the intruder. It could be a rogue ninja, a spy, someone who had followed him, or someone that he didn't expect—which was exactly the case.

When he took a swift look, he saw Naruto's teammate—Sasuke Uchiha—was the one walking through the street of his former Uchiha Clan. However, the alarming detail was not that it was Sasuke; it was that Sasuke's eyes were red and had the three black commas, just like Maida's sharingans. Once more, one of his former visions had become a reality. He had already seen the Uchiha boy with awakened sharingans in his vision. If anything, this was a reason for concern, since many of his visions—the ones with the white snake in particular—were like premonitions of disaster. His only happy visions were the ones that showed how Naruto grew to become one of The Leaf's Hokages, and how there was peace and brotherhood among clans at the Human Realm when Naruto was Hokage…

Pedro was focused on Sasuke until his sharingan could see that Sasuke was going to look at him in just a couple of seconds. Knowing it was going to happen, he moved out of Sasuke's sight right away and it didn't happen. He avoided being seen thanks to the inherent ability of Maida's sharingan.

Sasuke started to feel as if someone was watching him and he looked at the house where Pedro was. However, he was certain that there was nothing there. Obviously, his sharingan's unique ability was different from Maida's.

"How foolish. There is no one here and this village has been empty for years. It must be my imagination…" said Sasuke with a cutting voice, as usual. He always had that "tough" way to express himself. Sasuke looked forward and kept walking through his old village, as he used to do at least once every month.

This time he kept his sharingans fully awakened during the whole walk. Usually, he had his normal eyes, but his sharingans had awakened and they were becoming more powerful, so now he could keep them in their real state longer than before.

(Maida's sharingans were always in the awakened state. That was one of the signs that proved hers were different than others. Even Madara Uchiha's eyes weren't in that state at all times.)

Sasuke was very focused on his revenge. All he cared about was becoming more powerful to destroy the one that annihilated the Uchiha Clan. He didn't know anything about the second Uchiha stone or about the fact that his clan's true destroyer was Zetsu's group. He believed it had been done just by Itachi Uchiha, his older brother—whom had been recruited for Zetsu's group of elite rogue ninjas.

"In a few weeks, I will ace the Chunnin exams at Konoha. Then, I will continue becoming a more powerful ninja with these sharingans that I have. The day when I will surpass you and finish you is getting closer, Itachi!"

Sasuke was talking on his own. Clearly, he had a lot of anger inside. If Pedro had not seen him before at The Leaf, he would have certainly thought of him as an evil guy or an enemy. It was to be expected though. Sasuke was the only survivor when he was just a little kid. The rest of the Uchihas at the village had been killed, in the same way as Maida's village and by the same group, but with Itachi Uchiha included.

Thankfully, Sasuke didn't see Pedro Namikaze. Now, Pedro knew that he had to be more careful if he returned there, since he wasn't the only one that visited the place in secret. At least, he knew that Sasuke was not aware of his presence, but whether the boy knew about the two Uchiha stones or not was unknown for Pedro.

Pedro waited for more than one hour and checked to ensure Sasuke was gone. When he finally left the house, he was careful about not being seen. Sasuke had already left and was on his way to Konoha. Pedro went ahead to find the other Uchiha stone that no one knew about—besides the one who created it, of course.

As expected, he followed the map's instructions—he walked all the steps—and they led him to a location that was going to be crucial for him. This time he used his earth-style skills to dig quickly, and he found another passage, similar to the one he saw before. Not surprisingly, at the end of the passage, there was another large stone that looked just like the one at the Uchiha village. The writing on this one had a green color with green glow as well. It was like the special green letters that he read on the other stone. He used the lighter again, even though these words were easier to see than the others on the first stone.

The words on the Secret Uchiha Stone said:

"I shall teach you how to start using the eye that can see beyond the present, and even beyond your current reality. The one who has the special sharingan must fulfill his or her destiny to ensure that the Human Realm will not fall into ruin and destruction at the hands of a force that even I can't predict. Your eye's unique ability is to uncover what is hidden and to see what lies ahead. Only we can see what the future brings before it arrives. This technique can't attack or protect, but it is the key to winning the most important battle at the Human Realm against our greatest enemy. If you are reading this, you have the potential to develop this ability and you have the special sharingan that can do it. Look at the other side of the stone for my explanation on how to use it. And remember, new scriptures will be revealed at the other stone once you awaken the mangekyou sharingan.

Best of luck to you,

H. O."

"H and O?" thought Pedro. Was that the name of the author? Was this person from the past? Was it a man or a woman?

Pedro Namikaze felt amazed once again, and he knew that the stone was saying the truth. All his visions were becoming real little by little, and he had guessed many details correctly and with certainty, since he had the sharingan eye. It was not a coincidence. Nothing was a coincidence:

He found the map. He picked the right house first. He chose to keep his sword during the Hokage's test because his sharingan led him to it, even though it seemed like a bad choice that would slow him down. Ultimately, the sword helped him to pass the test against Jiraiya and his giant frogs. And there were many other instances like those. His right eye could perceive the best immediate path to take and other things as well, but he had no control of it at the moment. It really felt as if Maida's sharingan could predict what was better for the future and what was going to happen…

Once he saw the other side of the secret stone, he found a very detailed chakra seal. There was no way anyone could have reproduced that complex seal without seeing it first. He wondered who was the Uchiha ancestor that had created it…

It explained how to make the seal, which had one purpose: making it easier to control the special sharingan and its ability. He had to make the seal and place it on his sharingan (needless to say, this was easier said than done). Moreover, the instructions revealed that he would also be able to see other places with his eye if he used the special seal and a summoning chakra seal that was connected with the different location.

Pedro memorized the patterns and the lines involved with making the unique seal, in case he couldn't come back to this place. He planned to start practicing it soon.

The second hidden stone certainly revealed a lot for him, but it still didn't uncover the key to travelling to the other realm. He still had to find the way to do that, which was his true mission. Nonetheless, he already had an essential piece of the puzzle to achieve his goal; he just didn't know it yet.

What made him thoughtful was that the first Uchiha stone didn't have the "H. O." signature and was addressed to all sharingan owners, but the "secret" one seemed very personal and it really felt like it was addressed to him directly. However, he didn't have any way to talk to its creator, who was surely someone from the distant past. His best choice was concentrating on learning how to use the ability of Maida's special sharingan, hoping that it would help him to find the way to Yoninke's realm. He decided that he would focus on that, rather than on learning genjutsu from the first stone tablet inside the Uchiha village.

He left, using the dark yellow cape to conceal his identity, and returned to The Leaf.

The next few days he left early, as he always did during the trainings with the Hokage. He started to practice what he learned from the second Uchiha stone at the training ground that he was used to. He made an amazing discovery: when the stone's chakra seal and the summoning chakra seal for the Earth Realm of the Monkeys were combined, his sharingan could see a new place reflected through the seal. It was definitely a place that he had never seen. Was it a location at Yoninke's realm? He didn't know and it was just a reflection, so he couldn't use it to go there. It showed him what was happening at that place though.

Eventually, he figured out that the sharingan could be used, in conjunction with the seal from the stone, to change that location that he was seeing through the summoning seal. The biggest surprise came when he changed it to a place where he saw a few monkeys that resembled Yoninke's general appearance in many ways. They behaved like humans pretty much, but looked like monkeys. They were also dressed like a ninja clan, but it was not at the Human Realm. There was no mistake about it: he could see locations from the Earth Realm thanks to the unique seal he learned from "H. O." and thanks to Maida's sharingan. What he learned from Hiruzen's training for the summoning had also been essential. There were summoning chakra seals for the other realms as well, but he only knew the one that the Third Hokage had taught him. And that was the only one that Hiruzen knew too.

Nonetheless, Pedro was not finding any way to travel to those locations that he was seeing. He could only see them. He tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked. He even thought about getting Hiruzen's summoning scroll to summon Yoninke and to teach the monkey how to summon, so that Yoninke could summon him at the other realm. However, he would need a chakra seal for the Human Realm and Pedro didn't think that such a thing even existed—it did exist, but no one from the present knew it, only a selected few of the ancients had known it; Zet and Su Otsutsuki had been among them though. Unfortunately, Hiruzen made it clear that Pedro could not take his summoning scroll. He would have to get his own someday.

Pedro talked with many experienced elders from The Leaf and he visited the nearest small clans, but no one knew anything that could help him. Perhaps, the only ones who knew were from the past, like "H. O." However, Pedro thought that he didn't have any way to know what those people knew because they were dead already—except for Zet and Su, due to their "special" circumstances. Talking to those people from the past to find their secrets seemed impossible.

One day, the frustration of not finding anything and not having a single idea of what to do next overwhelmed him. He arrived at The Leaf one more time without anything and with no progress beyond what he got from the secret stone. He sat on the floor next to the entrance and looked at the carved faces of the four Hokages on the mountain. He heard that the Fourth Hokage knew many unique techniques that used advanced chakra seals. He could have helped him for sure, he thought, but the Fourth was not there anymore, just like the creator of the Uchiha stones.

Pedro also used the sharingan hoping that it would show him the way once again, but it didn't. He wondered, however, how did the Fourth—who was far younger than Hiruzen—learned his advanced techniques if no one knew about them. The Fourth was a gifted man indeed, and he had created some new techniques on his own; however, there was no way that he could have found all those secrets alone. There was something that he was overlooking and that the Fourth had not overlooked. He was certain of it…

It was that day, during that desperate moment, that Pedro laid eyes for the first time on a place that he had never considered searching before.

"Of course! How didn't I think about this earlier?! I may be able to find the missing piece of the puzzle there!"

At that moment and with that realization, his wounded hope recovered and it raised exponentially. He knew that the ones whom had the missing piece of information that he needed were not there. Even Hiruzen himself didn't know it. The ones that knew it were probably dead already and the answer had not been passed on to other people. However, he was wrong when he thought that there was no way to know the secrets of the past and the secrets from people that were not alive today.

The reality was that the secrets from the past that had been recorded could be found and the people that created them could be reached, even if they were not present in their physical form. This became very clear to Pedro Namikaze when he laid eyes on The Leaf's giant library with his sharingan eye. It had one of the largest and most complete collections of books and recordings in all of the Human Realm. It was also one of the reasons why The Leaf was more advanced than the other large clans. They had most of the knowledge from the past at their main village. If there was a place at the human world where Pedro would find what he was missing, it had to be somewhere at that library.

Ironically, he had focused on searching outside, but the key had been there, inside The Leaf, all along; and it had been there for decades, since the time when Hiruzen Sarutobi was just a kid. The only one who had found it and used it before was Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of The Leaf...

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Ancient Summoning Craft


	20. Chapter 20: Ancient Summoning Craft

**CHAPTER 20: Ancient Summoning Craft**

Pedro went through the entrance of The Leaf's library with a lot of enthusiasm and haste. He could feel it and the sharingan felt it too: this place was where the missing piece of information for his mission was hiding. However, it didn't take too long for him to see that he wasn't going to find the answers quickly. There were thousands and thousands of books there. The place was well-organized, but they didn't have our digital technology yet, so he couldn't search for the exact location of a book, or even for a list of books available. He had to do it the old fashioned way, which was searching for sections and subsections inside the library, based on topics of interest. The problem was that he didn't have an exact topic; he wanted to check anything that could give him another clue about how to travel to another realm; and even the subsections there had hundreds and hundreds of books. It was a crazy task, to say the least…

Pedro Namikaze was very determined though. He was going to go through the whole place—from the entrance to the last floor at the top—and search every book if it was necessary. At least, he had hope of finding something now.

He quickly located the floor that had books on chakra seals and advanced techniques that used them. He grabbed the tallest ladder on sight to make sure that there would be no book out of his reach. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even see that one step in the ladder was broken. He had to check thousands of books, so his mind had no time to focus on anything else—much less on something as trivial as the ladder. He felt that he was close to finding what he needed and that was all that mattered.

Some books didn't have their titles visible on the covers, so there were bookshelves where he had to check them one by one. To save some time, he continued searching and began to make a stack of the ones that seemed useful for his goal. Once he finished an entire section, he was going to research all the books he gathered in detail. Then, he would move on to another section until he covered them all.

Eventually, he arrived at a bookshelf, in the fourth floor, where every book seemed useful. It was a collection of books about advanced chakra seals and the summoning scrolls. He got carried away when he saw that, so he started to make a pile of books on his right arm without going back to the floor. He used his legs on the bookshelf to move the ladder to the left, and he kept going.

Then, someone interrupted him:

"Sir, what are you doing?" asked a little blonde girl with a perplexed voice.

The girl had a funny-looking pair of glasses—she had painted sets of circles on them, so they looked funny and her eyes were barely visible. How did she even get to see with those glasses?

Pedro had a pile of ten books on his right arm and two more on his left hand. He was about to grab the last one before going back down, but his hands were busy, so he was going to do it with his mouth. The guy definitely looked crazy to anyone that didn't know what he was thinking.

"Are you eating the books?!" asked the little girl, a little alarmed.

"Nnnnnn!"

He tried to say "no," but with so many books on him—including the one he was holding with his teeth—there was no way to say anything.

Then, he stepped on the single broken step of the ladder, right on the broken spot, and it snapped!

He could have grabbed the bookshelf to avoid the harsh landing on the floor, but he was more concerned with not hitting the girl with the massive pile of books, so he ended up pushing himself away from the ladder and the bookshelf. After he landed on the floor, the books fell on top of him and the ladder fell down too—making a strong crashing noise in the middle of all the silence there.

The two ninja guards at the first floor heard the sudden noise and the falling of objects:

"What's going on over there!? Whoever is causing the ruckus, show your face!"

The little girl looked down the handrail from the fourth floor and answered:

"It's ok! It is me, a bunch of books here fell down at once, but I will take care of it!"

The guards calmed down once they saw Shiho, but it wasn't like her to do such things. They probably needed some action though. There was never any problem at The Leaf's library, so all they did was spend the whole day there in case something happened—and nothing ever happened. So, they jumped like the world was falling apart at the slightest sign of a commotion.

Pedro stood up and the girl returned.

"Thank you for that. I own you one. I was careless here."

"It's alright. Thanks for not falling on top of me with all those books, but… why are you gathering books like a madman? Are you looking for something important?"

Shiho didn't sound afraid anymore, but she was curious about what this guy was looking for.

He wasn't supposed to talk about the details of his mission with anyone though.

"Yes, but it is classified information. I am doing an S-rank mission given to me by the Third Hokage. I can't tell you the details."

"Really?" the little Shiho sounded a little disappointed because she wanted to know. She scratched her head while wondering why he would need a book for an S-rank mission—those were almost always the most dangerous ones. The ninjas involved with those were doing anything except reading books (she thought that).

"Well, that's too bad. I am Shiho, the librarian in charge of this floor. I have read all the books here and many others, so I would have been able to tell you which books can be helpful to you… good luck and be careful next time."

Shiho touched the side of her glasses with her right hand and she was about to leave after that, but Pedro stopped her:

"Wait! Shiho, I will buy you candy if you help me, and I am sure that you can help me. I will tell you something!"

Shiho turned back and touched her glasses again, to make sure that they were on a perfect straight line with her eyes—this was one of her meticulous habits.

"No thanks, I don't like the candy store very much. I would rather be reading books instead. Maybe you can buy one of the expensive ones for me from my favorite book shop. So, how can I help you sir?"

"My name is Pedro Namikaze. I need to find a book about how to move an object from one location to another far location using some kind of advanced technique or a chakra seal. Do you have any idea of some book that can help me?"

Shiho was a little surprised when she heard his last name. It was the same as the Fourth Hokage's last name and that wasn't a common name at The Leaf, nor at its neighboring regions. Maybe they were second cousins or something…

She quickly forgot about that, however, because she started to remember about a particular book that had what Pedro was looking for.

"Hmmm…"

The girl's eyes were not visible through her glasses—because of all the thick circles she painted on them—but she sounded very thoughtful. She definitely had something to tell him.

Finally, she finished her "thinking" session and she knew what he needed:

"You are not going to find that kind of information in this section. Here, we only have books on advanced techniques and chakra seals for sealing jutsus, protective barriers, and some offensive maneuvers. However, I remember reading a book once about what you said now. It is in the section of unknown authors. Come, I will show you. I am sure it will help you."

Pedro was glad. He was very glad that the little girl with the funny glasses had crossed paths with him. He certainly was going to take ages to find that particular book on his own. (If he had been a bigger reader, maybe it would have taken him less time, but he had been practicing techniques instead of reading books. He was smart and clever, but definitely not a big reader.)

Shiho looked like a scientist, even at her very young age. (Indeed, she was going to end up being the top scientist from The Leaf during Naruto's years as the Seventh Hokage.)

She took him to a section from the third floor that was separate from the others. At first sight, it looked like a section of books that didn't matter because most of them looked old and ugly. Most didn't even have a title or the author's name on the cover. However, books—like people—can't be judged successfully by looking at the cover only. Young smart girls like Shiho knew that—about the books, not about the people (but she would learn it about the people too).

It took her some time to find it. Finally, she ended up grabbing a book with a red cover. It had nothing written on the cover. It was a pretty old book too.

"Here, this is the one. I remember it talked about how to move objects from one place to another using the summoning jutsu when the distances were large. It may help you."

Pedro grabbed it and opened it.

The title was inside, in the second page.

It said ""Ancient Summoning Craft." He went through all the pages very quickly, just to get a general idea of what it had. It was obvious that it explained chakra seals and other things related to summoning. When he got to the very last page, he kept it open on his hands and froze for a while. At the end, it said "H.O." with the same type of handwriting as what he saw on the secret Uchiha stone. Was this book written by "H.O." as well?

Who was this H.O. person!?

He couldn't believe it. Once again, it didn't feel like a coincidence. Nothing was a coincidence. It seemed like "H.O," was providing him with the missing pieces, one by one. He or she was guiding him, in an indirect way.

Pedro Namikaze had found what he needed incredibly fast, thanks to the genius blondie that read everything—he certainly wouldn't have found it so quickly without her.

Before he left with H.O.'s book, he wanted to thank the girl and, after knowing what she liked, he knew how to do it:

"Thank you Shiho. If I find any special book during my travels, I will save it and bring it to you as a gift."

The girl got excited from hearing that:

"Yes, yes! Please do that! I would love to have new reading material!"

Shiho was pretty clever though. She wondered if the "object" that had to be moved or teleported to another far place was himself. Maybe he wanted to "travel" to places that were far away because he needed it for his S-rank mission…

Pedro said good bye to the little librarian and he left, ready to uncover the secrets within the book.

Typically, he wasn't a big reader, nor a fast one, but he literally raced through that book in a few days. The author had written it very well, and everything was both approachable and useful for him. He almost felt as if the book had been written with him in mind. That was not possible though (he thought). How could someone from the past know him? How could they possibly know who would get their hands on the book many years later?

He also found something peculiar on one of the pages. It had a red heart drawn at the bottom, with the words "Kushina and me" inside it. It looked like a kid's handwriting. Obviously, someone else had read the book already, but if it was a kid he probably didn't pay too much attention to the complex stuff—this was what Pedro thought, but he was very wrong; that kid ended up becoming the Fourth Hokage and was known as "the Yellow Flash of The Leaf," due to his legendary speed and his replacement and teleportation techniques.

The book taught Pedro many useful things, such as summoning objects to different places—within the same realm—and summoning more than one object at the same time. The technique and the chakra seal used to do it were a modified version of the summoning jutsu and its chakra seal. Basically, it was a kind of summoning technique that teleported things, instead of summoning them. It changed the location of the object—or the objects—involved.

Pedro learned how to do it on his own because it was explained very clearly by "H.O." in the book. He did it using small rocks at first, but it didn't take long before he wondered if it would work with a living being too. He caught a small lizard and tested it on the lizard with a small distance of just seven meters between the initial location and the destination. Indeed, the little guy appeared at the other location and nothing happened to it. Then, Pedro set it free.

The next test was more complicated. He planned to try it on himself. In other words, the object to teleport via the new summoning jutsu was his own body. It seemed dangerous, but it was the only way to know if it truly worked.

Pedro marked his own body with the new summoning seal. He also had the other location marked already, as the book had specified. He hesitated at first—this was a great risk—but he could not put anyone else in danger for an experiment like this. It had to be himself.

He did it and the result was breathtaking because it worked. He appeared at the other location unharmed. He couldn't contain his happiness:

"It works! This is the way to do it! This is how you can travel to another far away place!"

If it worked with people, animals, and objects, at the same realm, it made sense that it could work from one realm to another too. Moreover, this seemed like the only effective way to "summon oneself" without anyone else's help. The standard summoning jutsu required a summoner or ally present at the other location; you could not do it for yourself on your own.

(The Fourth Hokage had become a master of this alternate teleportation technique. He even placed the seals for this on his personal set of daggers, so he could do it in an instant without making the seals—he just needed to use his "special" daggers to change his location or another object's location in an instant. He also used this new knowledge to create other high-speed techniques of his own. This was one of the secrets that led him to be known as the "Yellow Flash" and "Konoha's fastest ninja.")

In order to do it on his own, Pedro had to mark the object or the body that would be sent to the second location with the modified summoning chakra seal. Then, he needed to have another mark at the destination. Finally, he had to perform the new summoning technique on the target to teleport it to the other location. He wondered if the special chakra seal for the sharingan could work as the "mark" at the Realm of the Monkeys. It allowed him to see locations there, so it was possible that it also worked as a chakra mark for that location. (The special chakra seal is the one he learned from the secret Uchiha stone. It allowed him to see locations from the other realm with the sharingan, when it was joined with that realm's distinctive chakra seal.)

Pedro decided to try it out: he would do the same thing using the location that his sharingan saw as the second location for the object. Just like before, he attempted it with a small rock first. And it appeared at the location that he was seeing with the sharingan (the location at the other realm was reflected through the special chakra seal that he learned from the stone, and only the sharingan could see it). It felt like a divine revelation to him. He knew that it was at the other realm. The rock had been teleported there. He had finally found the way to do it, thanks to the stone and the book. Naturally, he also tried it with another little lizard (poor guys), just to make sure that it worked. Luckily, the little guy appeared unharmed at the other side as well.

Now, there was only one thing left to do: travelling to the Earth Realm and becoming an earth sage for The Leaf. Obviously, this would be easier said than done. He didn't even know what had to be done to become an earth sage.

Pedro Namikaze went to the Hokage's building to report the good news. Hiruzen showed a surprised face for the first time. He already knew this was going to happen, but he didn't think that it was going to be this fast. He got the news from Pedro one week before the beginning of the Chunnin exams at The Leaf. And Pedro made the preparations for his departure, which happened just two days after he gave the good news to the Hokage.

(Pedro Namikaze's first departure from The Leaf takes place before the beginning of the "Chunnin exams" arc in the Naruto anime.)

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Naruto and the Departure


	21. Chapter 21: Naruto and the Departure

**CHAPTER 21: Naruto and the Departure**

That day, Pedro Namikaze woke up sooner than usual. It was a big day for him. The possibility of not seeing The Leaf again for a very long time was there, but the feeling of knowing that he could make a massive positive difference for the clan and its people was more invigorating. The truth was that if the other clans had no one that knew the arts of the sages and The Leaf had several people with that knowledge, then they would be well-prepared to deal with any conflict. He was the one that could bring that knowledge to The Leaf and become a teacher of the sage arts there. The mission had a lot of meaning and the potential to be the stepping stone to a more peaceful world without ninja wars. He would help The Leaf to make it happen.

Pedro left early and walked towards Konoha's main entrance. Hiruzen and the four guards that helped him had agreed to meet him there. Along the way, he greeted the few people that he saw and said good bye to them. He was cheerful, but obviously this "good bye" was different; he was leaving for some sort of long-term mission—just like Jiraiya.

As he left, he saw most of Konoha and took a last look at the legendary monuments of the four Hokages on the mountain. He had met just one of them, and just that one made a significant positive change in his life. He could tell that the other three Hokages were remarkable individuals as well. Something about the Fourth always seemed familiar, but he never paid much attention to that gut feeling. He also remembered his visions along the way, in particular, the ones about Naruto Uzumaki—the future Seventh Hokage.

He arrived early at the main entrance, so the others were not there yet. However, he caught a sight of Kakashi's team—Team 7 (Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto)—before the four of them left for some kind of training or mission. They were just 30 meters beyond the entrance—not too far, but not close neither. Kakashi was at the front and Naruto was the one in the group that was in the rear, so Pedro could see him clearly. He had not seen Naruto in the last three weeks and, knowing who this guy was going to be and what he would do, he had to say something to him before he left. (The possibility of not coming back existed; Pedro Namikaze was aware of that.)

"Naruto!"

Pedro called him loudly to make sure that they would hear him. Naruto turned around and was thrilled to see it was his "long-distance" friend—they barely talked, but they always greeted each other enthusiastically and they had talked and eaten at the ramen shop just a couple of times.

"Hey! How is the training with the Hokage? I haven't seen you in a while!"

Kakashi heard Naruto and stopped the group so that Pedro could say good bye to him—he knew about Pedro's mission already.

"The training is over now. I will be leaving for a long-term S-rank mission today. I won't be back for a long time!"

Naruto was a little surprised. It had been just five months and this guy was already doing S-rank missions. He had to be really good! (Obviously, Naruto didn't know anything about Pedro beyond what he saw, which wasn't too much.)

"Good luck on the mission!" yelled Naruto.

Naruto was about to rejoin his team to go to their last preparation—for the Chunnin exams—when Pedro said something that Naruto didn't expect. These were important words that Pedro Namikaze wanted to tell the future Hokage, before his trip to the Earth Realm:

"Naruto, if you already know that you can be a great Hokage for The Leaf, make sure that you become one! When I return, I will be glad to support you and The Leaf! Believe in the great things that you will do!"

Naruto was even more surprised when he heard that. He had never told Pedro about his dreams of becoming a Hokage. How did he know that? However, how he knew it didn't matter. Those encouraging words were uplifting for Naruto Uzumaki and, despite their limited friendship, those words ensured that Naruto would not forget about Pedro Namikaze, even after all the years that went by before they met again.

"I will! I definitely will! You will be the surprised one when you see me again! Wait and watch!"

Naruto looked happy, self-assured, and very optimistic. He was also a very friendly guy, like Pedro, although much more hyperactive—most likely because of the massive amounts of chakra that he had inside since the Fourth sealed the Nine-tails within him to save Konoha. Pedro was glad to know that such a guy would be the Hokage in the future. Good-hearted, confident, and charismatic leaders—such as the future Naruto—were what the Human Realm needed.

After that, they waved hands and Team 7 left. Kakashi didn't say a word, but he also made a quick good bye signal to the Hokage's apprentice. He was well-aware of the low chances he had of returning since no one else—from The Leaf—had travelled to that realm before, so they didn't know what he would find… Naruto left with the utmost positive opinion about him. On the other hand, Pedro wondered when he would see the blonde Hokage again.

After Naruto's group was gone, the Third Hokage and the four Anbu guards—with their masks on, as always—arrived at the entrance. Then another familiar face arrived from a different route. Jiraiya was there too, although it was just a coincidence. He didn't know that Pedro Namikaze was going to leave that day.

Jiraiya got the wrong impression at first. It was obvious that Pedro was getting ready to leave, but Jiraiya didn't know that it was for a mission.

"Are you going to leave already? How long has it been since we had our crazy challenge? Five months?"

Then, Jiraiya looked at Hiruzen:

"Old man, you must have overworked him. What did you make him do since I left?"

Jiraiya jumped to conclusions too quickly, but that wasn't surprising coming from someone like him. Pedro told him about the mission:

"It's good to see you again. I am not leaving The Leaf. I will take a trip to the Earth Realm of the Monkeys to complete a mission. I plan to become a sage there, just like you did at the Realm of the Toads."

Jiraiya opened his mouth and he left it open for a while. He felt as if someone had dropped a glass of icy water on his head. He certainly wasn't expecting that. Jiraiya looked at Hiruzen again:

"Yes, you definitely overworked him! I don't know why I am so surprised about this…"

He put his right hand on his face for a second, then he looked back at Pedro:

"You know how dangerous this is, don't you? Are you well-prepared?"

"Yes, I have been training for this since you left. And recently, I found the way to make the trip."

Pedro sounded secure, but Jiraiya wasn't sure that this was a good idea. He walked towards Hiruzen and asked him something, with a lower voice:

"Did you talk with the old monkey about this? I am a little worried that he may make a barbecue out of him. That guy always had a really bad temper. Will they really help him like the toads did with me?"

Hiruzen had not revealed all the details to Jiraiya, but he planned to do it after Pedro's departure.

"It's ok. Everything has been handled well. We have to talk about this when I get back."

Jiraiya was still a little worried. He knew that King Enma was no "easy customer." On the contrary, the only human that he accepted was his summoner, Hiruzen. Jiraiya also knew that "becoming a sage" was no easy task, even if the monkeys helped him. Becoming a sage at the world of the toads was the most difficult thing he had done in his life, and a great toad sage had helped him to accomplish it. Even then, Jiraiya's sage mode was still not in its perfect form. It was more difficult than what anyone imagined. Jiraiya had experienced it and he had achieved the toads' sage mode at 80% of its complete power. He knew how difficult it was. Nonetheless, he also understood that both Pedro and the Hokage were sure about this; it surely was something that had to be done for The Leaf. Therefore, Jiraiya decided that he would give him advice instead of talking about how crazy this mission was:

"I wish you good luck and success. Make sure that you find an experienced sage at their realm. Get him to help you. You will need it if you want any chance at learning their sage arts and… don't give up. It won't be easy. Don't lose hope and persevere."

"Thank you for your advice Jiraiya; I don't plan to come back until I complete the mission."

Hiruzen realized that it was time to leave. He didn't want to get Jiraiya too involved in this, since he planned to tell him everything about Pedro Namikaze after he left.

"Let's get going guys. Jiraiya, wait for me at the Hokage's building. We have to talk. I also have another mission for you, now that we have the Chunnin exams here at Konoha."

(Hiruzen planned to assign Jiraiya to give Naruto Uzumaki some training.)

Pedro, the four Anbu guards, and Hiruzen started to walk to their training grounds.

Jiraiya gave Pedro a final farewell:

"Take care of yourself and don't trust those monkeys too much! If your life is at stake, abort the mission!"

"I will be careful!" shouted Pedro while he waved his hand for a good bye to Jiraiya and to Konoha. However, he didn't plan to abort the mission under any circumstances. This wasn't just a mission for The Leaf; it had personal value for him.

They arrived at the place where they had trained for the last five months. The time for Pedro Namikaze's departure had arrived.

"Will I ever know you guys without your masks?" asked Pedro.

The guards stayed silent and Hiruzen said something:

"Take them off."

The four were a little shocked when they heard that.

"Third, are you sure about this?" asked the black-haired one.

"This wasn't our initial plan," pointed out the brown-haired one with a trace of doubt in his voice.

"It is ok. I trust him," said the blonde one.

(This was the one that gave Pedro the dark yellow cape for his visit to the deserted Uchiha village.)

"You have nothing to worry, he is one of us and has been for a while now," replied Hiruzen, with his usual calm and confident voice.

Hiruzen didn't sound like a boss, but everyone followed his command. He, as Hokage, was the main decision-maker at The Leaf and all the ninjas there respected his decisions, which were always done with The Leaf and with them in mind.

All four of them removed their masks.

Despite their tough training since an early age, they all looked pretty normal without their masks. The surprise was that one of them was a woman; however, Pedro had already suspected it before because of the violet hair. It simply didn't fit well for a man's hair, but Pedro didn't give much importance to that small detail back then. Now, it made perfect sense, of course.

These four were part of the Hokage's personal Anbu squad; and they were among his usual bodyguards as well.

Pedro was glad about seeing their faces before he left. Now, he felt that he truly knew them.

"You will be the first ones that I will teach the sage arts to. I am grateful for what you did to help me during the last five months of training."

"That will be if we are still alive when you come back; we have the most dangerous job at The Leaf, after the Hokage," said the black-haired one, who was also wearing a gray bandana on his forehead.

The blonde guy complained:

"Man, you are such a pessimist; it's a wonder you are still alive!"

"I would be honored to learn these secrets arts from you Pedro," said the brown-haired one, looking pretty happy.

"If it is good for The Leaf, it will be good for me too," added the violet-haired woman—she didn't look like a talkative type.

"That's the spirit!" proclaimed the blonde one, who was clearly the loud one out of the four.

It was good to see that there were real people with human emotions and personalities behind the masks. Far too many Anbu ninjas gave the impression of being cold-hearted masked assassins. And that was the case at many clans, but The Leaf's positive culture—led by the Hokages from the start—cultivated a new generation of ninjas that understood that being a killer was not the goal or the purpose of the Anbus; maintaining and defending peace and justice was their true purpose. Unfortunately, not all of The Leaf's leaders followed that philosophy, but Hiruzen always followed it and so did his Anbu guards. (The Hokage was the main leader of the clan, but not the only one in charge of the Anbu squads.)

Pedro Namikaze exchanged a handshake with each one of the four Anbu that were now his friends. It was ironic because departures and "good byes" are expected to be sad, but they were all cheered up and happy. Maybe they needed to take their masks off already… (Pedro Namikaze's departure was certainly very uplifting for these four guards and for Naruto.)

Finally, Pedro walked towards Hiruzen. He had saved the most important and most meaningful handshake for last. Hiruzen grabbed his hand and held it strongly.

"Before you leave, there is something you must know…"

Hiruzen was just one hair away from telling him something that he wasn't supposed to say. He felt he probably wouldn't see Pedro Namikaze again, but he could not say anything because everything could change at The Leaf if he did that. Therefore, he chose to give him advice and a helpful item, instead of telling him anything about what was going to happen to him.

"Never use the forbidden taijutsu technique again. Forget that you can open your chakra gates. In the battles that await you, you can't afford to guarantee your defeat if you can't win in less than your body's time limit. Concentrate on learning about sage chakra. Jiraiya has told me that it is as powerful as opening several chakra gates, but it just fades away, without bringing you down too. You will be on your feet if the sage mode runs out, but you won't be standing anymore once the body's chakra gates are exhausted. And if you ever open all eight, you will die. Never use them again. And… remember everything I taught you; it will come in handy no matter where you go."

"I understand. I will not use them again. Thank you for everything master Hiruzen Sarutobi. I will never forget all the things you taught me."

Pedro's voice was grateful. He was an all-new person and a new ninja after those five months at The Leaf. He was glad that he had the Third Hokage as his teacher. And Hiruzen was glad that he got the chance to be Pedro Namikaze's mentor.

Pedro was going to let go of the handshake, but Hiruzen held his hand and grabbed it with his other hand as well.

"Thank you for everything that you are going to do for The Leaf and for all of us. I will never forget it."

Hiruzen didn't sound as The Leaf's Hokage or as his teacher, but as a very grateful friend.

Pedro smiled. He liked to see that even though he had done nothing yet, the Hokage was very hopeful and believed in him.

"I am happy that I have the opportunity to make a positive difference for such a great clan. Thank you for being my teacher and my friend Hiruzen."

"Before you leave Pedro, take this too."

Hiruzen revealed a silver amulet and gave it to Pedro.

"If King Enma gives you trouble give him that and tell him that I said you are going to make a change for the future of his kingdom."

Pedro placed the amulet in one of his pockets. He trusted the Hokage's advice. He knew that "the king" was Hiruzen's summon after all.

Pedro Namikaze walked away from them and created the chakra seal from H.O.'s secret stone. He placed the seal's center close to the sharingan. Then, he made the Earth Realm's summoning seal—as Hiruzen had taught him—and combined it with the other one. He began to see the image of a location from the world of the monkeys through the seals. With Maida's sharingan, he changed the location until he saw the place he had seen before—the one that looked like it had a tribe of monkeys nearby. Next, he created the chakra mark of the modified summoning jutsu (from H.O.'s book) and marked his own body with it, from head to toes. Finally, he looked back to see the others one last time; and he did it:

"Summoning jutsu!"

He disappeared and a thin cloud of dust dissipated from that spot afterwards. Had it worked? Was he at the Earth Realm already? The others didn't see the location he saw because they didn't have the sharingan, and Pedro was not there anymore to tell them if it had worked. Obviously, Hiruzen knew that it worked. He had definitely found something that others were not capable of finding. Hiruzen knew that it was related to his sharingan eye's unique ability; thus, none of them could have found it anyways.

The four guards put their masks back on. Their "Pedro Namikaze" S-rank mission for The Leaf was now complete and it had been a success. The Fourth Hokage's relative had been trained and he had been able to accomplish and find what he needed. The rest depended on him. (S-rank missions were the most important ones for the whole clan, not necessarily the most difficult ones, but in most cases the important ones also had the most danger. That's why everyone associated A-rank and S-rank missions with the elite ninjas.)

The guards were going to leave, but the Hokage was still standing there.

"You guys can go ahead. I will catch up with you."

"But…" (they were interrupted by him before they could say anything)

"Don't worry, I am old, but I can take care of myself well. Nothing will happen if we are 20 meters apart. Besides, after this important mission I want you all to rest and enjoy some time with your families at Konoha. You are my guards, not my slaves."

The Hokage was sad because of the departure, but he smiled anyways.

(If there was a good leader that was worth guarding, The Leaf's Hokage was certainly that person at the Human Realm during that time.)

The guards understood that he probably wanted some privacy to think, so they walked away—but they didn't lose sight of the Third completely.

Hiruzen looked at the spot where Pedro Namikaze was before he disappeared. There were many things he didn't say, but he could not risk changing The Leaf's past, since trying to change some little details for Pedro Namikaze could backfire and end up changing everything for the worse.

He said his last words for Pedro Namikaze there:

"I wish good luck for you my good old friend. I hope my training was enough. I covered all the things that you mentioned back then, when we had the same age…

If only you could have met Minato; I know you would have been very proud of him. Your son was a remarkable Hokage that inspired us all, despite his young age. I am sorry; I am very sorry that I couldn't tell you about him or about Naruto. I am glad that you and Naruto, at least, became friends. I am also sorry because I couldn't save Minato the day it happened. I couldn't keep the promise I made to you. And today, I couldn't risk changing The Leaf's future to tell you the truth. Maybe I will tell you something someday, if I see you one more time.

Good bye."

Hiruzen was seen with a tear in his eye for the first time during the whole story.

The truth was that he was a great Hokage not just because he was skilled or powerful. He was a great Hokage because he cared about others. He cared about everyone at The Leaf and saw them as his family…

Just a few days after Pedro Namikaze's departure, the Chunnin exams began at The Leaf…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Arrival at the Earth Realm


	22. Chapter 22: Arrival at the Earth Realm

**CHAPTER 22: Arrival at the Earth Realm**

When Pedro Namikaze appeared at the Earth Realm of the Monkeys, the very first experience he had was quite intense—the kind of thing that makes your heart pump as if it is going to come out of your body. He saw the sky everywhere and felt the breeze coming from every angle. Then, he started to fall down. He appeared in the air, sixty meters above the surface. Clearly, the teleportation summoning technique was far from perfect. It worked wonders in short distances, but far places where a different story. He appeared about one mile away from the location that he wanted, and not close to the ground at all.

Gravity began to pull him down at a furious speed and a deadly crash with the surface was inevitable. Luckily for him, the surface at that location was made of tons and tons of soft earth of the highest quality. It wasn't rocky and there were no trees either. As soon as he realized his situation, he reacted:

"Earth rising jutsu!"

He couldn't think of anything else in two seconds. He directed as much as he could from the tons of earth at the bottom towards himself, hoping that it would slow him down before the end of the fall. Basically, he attacked himself to lower his speed, so that he would be able to survive the fall.

It was his lucky day—he survived—but it was disastrous, nonetheless. He took a heavy hit from the waves of earth that he sent against himself. Then, he still crashed with the small mountain of earth that he had raised at the bottom and rolled down several meters, until the real surface stopped him. He ended up half-buried in the earthy ground and with both bruises and earth everywhere. He survived and he—miraculously—had no broken bones, but asides from that it was a total disaster, and he did get some serious bruises.

He landed at the new training ground of King Enma's Royal Tribe at the Royal Valley. The whole Earth Realm was made of mountains, forests, and the great and vast Royal Valley, which was where the current monkey king and his tribe lived. Their world was known as the "Earth Realm" because it had vast amounts of pure natural earth of the highest quality everywhere. Basically, their world was an ocean of earth, instead of water. The Royal Valley was also the largest valley at their world and it had the most earth plains too. The other places were mostly mountains and forests that grew on the oceans of fertile earth. The Royal Valley was also at the center of it all; and the locations with mountains and forests surrounded its boundaries.

An expedition from the king's tribe and King Enma himself were nearby when the human appeared. One of the monkeys screamed in awe and the rest turned around and watched what happened to the human.

"King! A human is falling from the sky!"

Enma and the others immediately noticed and watched how crazy his landing was. It was also obvious that the human knew earth-style techniques.

Two of Enma's sons—Em and Sarzan—were also there. The group of ninja monkeys saw it all at their new training ground.

"Holy monkey, that's the dumbest landing I have ever watched!" yelled Sarzan.

He actually thought the opposite, but after seeing something that awesome he had to say something, instead of remaining quite. However, his father was nearby and he knew Enma was not fond of humans, so he lied just to say something about it. Sarzan knew about the incident with the king's grandfather. (The previous monkey king, Enma's grandfather, was killed by a human that he had trained to become an earth sage. Zet Otsutsuki, the apprentice, killed him after he achieved his goal. Enma saw it as a small monkey and he also escaped Zet's second attack, which killed many others.)

"From the looks of it, that may be his very first landing from high altitude. It was pretty good, don't you think father?" asked Em to Enma.

(Sarzan was about 14 years old in terms of a human's age. He was Enma's youngest son. Em was about 22, and certainly taller and bigger than Sarzan and Yoninke. Enma was in his 60s—in human age. He was like Hiruzen in many ways, except for his bad temper and his lack of patience.)

The king's reaction was far different from theirs.

"What are you all doing standing here like fools in awe!? An intruder just entered our world and our tribe's perimeter. Capture him now!"

Pedro had just freed himself with an earth-style technique. He wasn't buried anymore, but he was a total mess. His face looked brown now, rather than white, and his black hair had gotten a reddish tint from getting buried in the ground. Overall, he looked brown and red, just like all the tons of earth there. The place looked like a natural paradise with earth everywhere, but it definitely didn't feel like it to Pedro after his landing. (The earth at the "monkey" world is the kind of pure earth where you can throw a seed, and you can be sure that it will grow into a tree right there, on its own. It was extremely fertile.)

Pedro's hazardous landing, however, was nothing in comparison with the other things that he would experience at the Earth Realm. The best and most intense stuff was yet to come…

When he finally recovered, he stood up and looked forward. As soon as he saw that he was not alone, a ninja monkey fell on his head and put his two hands on his eyes.

"Now!" yelled the monkey.

Pedro was going to remove that crazy monkey from his head with an earth jutsu, but four others grabbed his arms and legs. These monkeys were pretty fast, just like Yoninke. Another one took away his sword and the other small weapons he had, while the struggle was taking place. He also felt how two ropes caught his legs. They were immobilizing him!

He had to fight fiercely just to unite his hands.

(Both hands were necessary to perform an elemental technique and they had to be united at some point as well. The only exceptions were the eye-based jutsus of the Uchihas—hands were not required to use the sharingan—and some teleportation techniques that used seals, such as the Fourth Hokage's techniques.)

They almost had him captured when he finally got an opening to do it:

"Wind shield jutsu!"

All of them fell down and were pushed away by the air's pressure, except the two that were trying to hold him with the ropes.

Then, out of nowhere, a really large ape came and gave him a serious kick in the stomach. He could barely move after that happened.

"Hand of earth!"

A hand of solid earth trapped Pedro Namikaze and rose him two meters above the ground. He still felt the kick; so, he couldn't react in time to dodge what came after it. His hands were far from close as well. And he didn't know any sharingan techniques yet. He was trapped! King Enma caught him in less than thirty seconds. And he was nowhere near as nice as his monkey guards.

"How did you get here and what do you want!? You are going to go back to where you came from right now!"

Enma couldn't help but remember the other one who had done this many years ago. He was seeing another Zet Otsutsuki, another perpetrator of his home, his land, and his tribe.

Two of the ninja monkeys jumped on the hand of earth and pointed their swords at the human.

"The king is asking you something intruder, answer!"

He had just recovered from the kick, but he answered:

"I am sorry, but I can't return. I must accomplish the mission given to me, and until I do that I must live here."

King Enma was losing his temper. He didn't trust humans. And he didn't like that answer either.

"You are not the one who decides whether you get to stay here or not. This is not your home. What is the mission that you have at our land!?"

"I must become an earth sage before I return. My clan at the Human Realm needs it. King, I will need your help. Please help me with this task I have and I will do anything to help you and your people."

Pedro had recognized that the big ape with the large white beard was Hiruzen's summon, so he was the king of the monkeys as well. The king was also the one who captured him. He still felt that kick on his stomach. Enma didn't go easy on him at all.

"Of course you want to become a sage. Isn't that what you all want!? Power to conquer and vanquish others. That was the same thing that the previous one wanted, and he killed most of us after he got it! You are all the same! Selfish and corrupted beings!"

Enma finished with a tone that was turning pretty violent. The memories of how sage Zet killed his grandfather, the previous king, were clear in his mind. He wasn't going to allow such a thing to repeat itself ever again.

Pedro was trapped above his waist and up to his shoulders. At that moment, he couldn't reach out for the amulet that Hiruzen gave him.

"I need this power to preserve peace and justice at my realm. I want it to help The Leaf to stop any opposing clan from using their power in the same ways that you despise. I came here to fulfill a mission for Hiruzen Sarutobi and his clan. In my pocket, I have an amulet that he gave me for you, King Enma. He wants us to work together. I need your help to accomplish this mission for The Leaf."

Enma felt shocked and infuriated at the same time. This guy knew The Leaf—the only human place that the king cared about—and he knew Sarutobi too—the only human that the king considered trustworthy and a friend. Why didn't Sarutobi mention anything about him? Why would Hiruzen send someone else there knowing very well that he didn't like them? Clearly, this guy had to be lying—he thought. It was just like the other one. He had also presented himself as a friend to his grandfather. He didn't reveal his true colors until he became an earth sage. Enma was furious and was not willing to believe him, even though he seemed very honest.

"Enough lies you low rat! If you don't go back to where you came from, I will execute you here! We don't need any other human at the Royal Valley!"

There were around fifteen other monkeys with the king. Among them were his two younger sons, Sarzan and Em. Sarzan—another one-meter-tall young monkey like Yoninke—didn't like the way Enma was treating the human. Em, who was also young, but eight years older than Sarzan, understood how his father felt about this matter. Em also had a monkey beard, but it was black and smaller than Enma's. He was much taller than Sarzan too—around two meters tall. All of them were wearing similar ninja clothing, except the king and Em. Apparently, their different clothes also denoted that they had a higher rank at their tribe and as ninjas.

Pedro Namikaze was in a difficult situation. He was witnessing a very different King Enma here than the one he saw when Hiruzen summoned him at The Leaf. He had to awaken him somehow, and he got an idea that could work:

"King, the last time that Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned you, he did it because he wanted me to see you and recognize you. You two talked for a long time that day, and I was there. Before I came here, he thanked me and gave me a silver amulet for you. I have it right now in my right pocket. He said that I was…"

Enma interrupted him before he could finish:

"Enough! How do you know all of that? Are you a spy at The Leaf!?"

Everything made sense, but there was no way that Sarutobi could have given that amulet to this guy. He had been so easy to beat! There was no way he could the one that would do those things Sarutobi told him.

Pedro continued:

"I was Hiruzen's apprentice the last five months. He trained me for this mission and I found the way to travel here on my own. He said that I am going to make a change for your future.

I am telling you the truth. Have one of your guards check my right pocket for the amulet. Please, believe me. I really need your help."

Pedro sounded sure about what he was saying, but he was also very worried. A lethal movement from the violent king or from one of his monkey guards could mean the end for him. If they chose to see him as an enemy or if his words didn't reach them, then his hope was over. He couldn't free himself from the hand of solid earth. Somehow, it was stronger than the ones he could create. The king was certainly a master user of the earth-style.

Enma felt astonished. He had calmed down a little, after he heard Pedro's last words, and was in a state of disbelief. Was he the guy that Sarutobi told him about? He couldn't even dodge his attack! How could he be THAT guy?! It made no sense. However, he knew too much. The only explanation was that he, clearly, wasn't lying. If he was truly the one that Sarutobi told him about, then he had to help him. There was no other choice. The Earth Realm itself depended on it. His own life depended on it.

Em noticed that the king's attitude changed drastically.

"Father, are you alright? What is happening?"

Sarzan was the one that replied though:

"He went from angry to reasonable, that's what happened brother."

"Sarzan, this is not the time for your jokes! Something is wrong here," said Em with skeptic tone. It wasn't normal to see Enma reacting this way to anything. Something about what the human said was important.

Enma made up his mind. There was one way to find out if he was saying the truth.

"Very well, let's see the amulet you have."

The king made a signal to one of his ninja monkeys—the one that was closest to Pedro—and the monkey jumped up to where the human was and grabbed what he had in his right pocket. The monkey guard was going to turn around to show it to the king when an arrow shot from the side entered his neck. He dropped the silver object to the ground and fell down, without having a chance to do anything else.

Then, a furious band of ninja monkeys from another tribe revealed itself. They began jumping out from everywhere. They had red ninja clothes and red masks that were easily confused with the reddish color of the earth in that area. Their hair was a little red as well. They looked different than Enma and the others. Their weapons were spears, bows with arrows, and swords. The king's squad was not wearing masks and the only weapons they brought were small swords and staffs, so they were not ready for long-range combat or for an ambush of that size. The attackers had just one objective: taking advantage of the opportunity to kill the king of the Royal Valley. Enma's group was vastly outnumbered, but they had some great earth-style users, two sages, and various shifters among them.

(Shifters are the monkeys that had learned the ability to transform themselves into a weapon, based on their innate affinity with that weapon. Shifters could only turn into one weapon and were quite conscious and aware of everything, even in their "weaponized" form. They could see and talk, even in such a strange state. King Enma was both a shifter and a sage.)

Regardless, Enma and his Anbu-monkey-squad had not anticipated an ambush of such a large scale. It seemed like they had brought half of their tribe to attack them at once. The king and his group were in a dark situation, but they had no choice other than fighting all of them because they were surrounded already. They were not close to their village, so it was just the fifteen of them (without counting the one that grabbed Pedro's amulet) against dozens of red crazy monkeys—all targeting the king and Em, due their clothing (which denoted a higher rank) because, apparently, they didn't know which one of those two was the real king.

The two monkey guards closest to Enma alerted him of the danger:

"King, there is no time for your sage mode! Use us as your weapons! We stand a chance if we fight as one!"

There was no time indeed, so Enma approved their choice right away. The one on the left shifted to his bo staff form and the other one grabbed Enma and shifted to his shield-armor form.

"Let's hit those bastards hard!" yelled the staff.

"I'll cover your back and give you an extra pair of eyes my king," said the armor, which was covering Enma's back and his shoulders.

The other twelve monkeys didn't shift, but they also formed groups of three and started to fight together. They were very well-coordinated, as if they were single units. The attackers were many, but they had no union. Each red monkey was on its own.

There was a group of three that took cover close to the earth hand that still had Pedro Namikaze trapped. It was Sarzan, Em, and a third monkey from the king's squad. Something strange began to happen though. Em, the largest and strongest of the three, took cover beneath the earth hand where Pedro was—two meters above them. Then, Em sat there and closed his eyes, while Sarzan and the other monkey started to protect him using wild earth-style attacks from both sides, around Em (and also around Pedro who was there, but higher up). Something very strange was happening.

"Hey! Do something! Don't just sit there, free me from here! I can help them and they need your help too!"

Pedro was very worried. King Enma looked unbeatable with that armor, the staff, his strong attacks, and his earth techniques, but little by little, they were cornering him. Pedro noticed it because he was seeing it from the most visible place in the battlefield of earth. It was just a matter of time before some of them could reach the king. Likewise, the other large group of attackers was also getting closer and closer to Sarzan and the other monkey.

The king's groups were more powerful and had better coordination, but the multitude of rogue monkeys were not as stupid as they looked. Their swords, arrows, and spears were having an effect on their favor. Pedro thought that he was the only one that was noticing this. He couldn't resist being trapped there without being able to do anything! He yelled at the big ape below him again:

"They are going to get killed if you don't help them! Break me free from here at least!"

Regardless of what Pedro said, the huge monkey didn't even move a hair. It was as if he was at another world. It didn't make any sense!

Things got out of hand when one of the squads of three was beaten by the red monkeys, and when Sarzan's companion got caught by an arrow—he couldn't use any other earth technique after that. The red devils were focused mostly on the king and on Sarzan, and there were too many of them still. The other two groups of three were losing their advantage as well. The situation was truly worrisome and their chances of surviving looked pretty slim at best, even if Pedro Namikaze was freed.

Sarzan started to freak out too:

"Brother, hurry! I can't stop them for much longer and father needs our help! He is fighting with his two guards, but he is not in sage mode!"

Em was starting to worry too, but he was almost there. He couldn't interrupt it now that they needed it the most! (What was he doing?!)

Sarzan was incredible at using earth-based techniques. He had been using them for minutes and he could continue, but there were too many for him. He was starting to feel the fatigue as well.

"Watch out!" yelled Pedro at Sarzan, when he realized that two red monkeys were going to get him from the other side.

It was too late. One missed, but the other one made a cut with his sword on one of Sarzan's arms. Sarzan was pushed to the earthy ground after that. Three of them jumped on him with swords—ready to finish him—when it finally happened. Em reached his full sage mode.

Em moved so fast that it looked like he didn't weight more than a cat, despite his size (he was large like Enma, but much younger). He grabbed the swords of two of the three attacking monkeys with his own bare hands, in midair, before they could reach Sarzan. Right there, before landing, he delivered a very powerful front kick to the third one. He threw the other two high in the air and dozens of meters away. Em was different now. His eye color had changed to yellow and there were strong and wide brown marks around his eyes—on the skin of his face. Furthermore, his hands didn't get cut from holding the two swords!

Pedro could see how refreshed Sarzan looked when he saw that. And all the red monkeys that saw it looked very scared. Em jumped backwards and landed close to Pedro, after the backflip. He moved his arm and with the back side of his hand, he broke Enma rocky earth hand and freed Pedro Namikaze. It was incredible that his hand didn't even get hurt from doing that. What was he?

"Human, go and help the king. Prove that you are on our side. I will take care of this rogue ambush everywhere else."

Em didn't waste any time.

"Sage-art earthquake jutsu!"

He touched the ground and everything began to shake abruptly, except for the area where he, Pedro, and Sarzan were. Once it finished, some of the attackers were running away already, but many stayed. They had not been able to kill the king.

"Sage-art hands of earth!"

The same technique that Enma used on Pedro appeared, but all over the place. At least twenty enemy monkeys were caught.

"Earth shaper jutsu!"

Em made a large rocky sword and a strong-looking shield in a matter of seconds. Then, he started to hunt all the red monkeys. It was pure chaos, but the tables had been turned on the ambushers. The rogue attackers were the ones in trouble now.

Pedro ran towards the king and began to fight alongside him. King Enma, his staff, and his armor were already pretty fatigued, but still standing. Sarzan also joined them and laid waste on the red monkeys around them with his random earth-based swords and his earth-breaker jutsu, which made the ground fall down beneath them.

After a devastating counterattack by sage Em, the remaining enemies started to run away. Pedro was busy helping Sarzan and the king, but he was amazed too. Em's earthquake was very similar to the one done by the white green-haired guy he fought at Maida's village. This was the power of an earth sage and this was what the sages of the other realms were capable of. (Naturally, other sages from the other realms and their abilities were different, but this was what the "monkey" sages, in particular, could do. They were masters of the earth style and could use sage chakra as well.)

Soon, the training ground—which had been turned into a real battlefield—became empty. The red monkeys that could run escaped; and the ones left couldn't even stand up. The huge ambush had been subdued, mostly by Em in his sage mode.

Thankfully it was over, because Em's eyes and the skin on his face returned to normal at that point. His sage mode had reached its limit.

Enma's staff and his armor returned to their normal monkey-selves—they shifted back. They were exhausted. Sarzan and the king were also fatigued. The survivors from their original squad—just three other monkeys—also returned, all beaten up. The others, including the one that helped Sarzan at first, were laying somewhere at the battlefield. They were most likely gone—not injured, but dead.

Em returned to his father, but he wasn't happy about the victory, he was angry:

"We can't let this continue anymore father! Do you want to get us all killed?! We have to go into the forests to take down these rogue tribes and their leader. They are a serious threat! Why haven't you given the order to do it yet!?"

This had been the worst ambush so far, but they had these ambushes frequently and many monkeys from the king's Royal Tribe had been killed this way. It had to stop.

Suddenly, one of the remaining red monkeys stood up with a spear—very close to them—and threw it at full speed towards Enma's head, while he yelled:

"Long live King Dormon! Death to the king of the Royal Valley!"

Those seconds were like minutes for Em and Sarzan. They were too far from it to stop it. Enma would have had to turn around to stop it, but it was coming from behind his head, so he didn't see it and he didn't turn around in time to dodge it. The other five monkey guards couldn't react fast enough either. None of them saw that coming. It was Pedro Namikaze—the one who was closest to the spear's path—who quickly reacted and deviated the spear with a very sudden kick that managed to hit it. That stopped it from reaching its target.

One of the king's guards killed that final attacker, but it was Pedro who stopped the spear. Basically, he saved Enma's life.

Sarzan was in shock when he heard the red monkey's words, but Em was not:

"So that is why you don't want to fight them and take them down at their source, and now it almost got you killed! Brother Dormon is their leader, isn't he? You knew it already. When are we going to give that criminal what he deserves!?"

Enma was starting to get tired of Em yelling at him.

"Calm down! Dormon is my son just like you two. I will not kill him and neither will you, but make no mistake, we will bring him to justice together and if he is the one behind these tribes. He will pay for it."

Em was in pure disbelief:

"Are you serious? Didn't you hear what the one that almost killed you now said?! He IS their leader, and not just that, he wants to be king! And he is trying to take you out for that."

Sarzan didn't want to see Em and Enma fighting, so he tried to calm down Em.

"Brother, this is not the time. Let's discuss this tomorrow. We have to go back now. Some of us need a medic! I don't want to get my poor arm amputated! And I skipped my breakfast, so I'm starving too."

Em looked at Sarzan with a really serious face.

"I saw you eating a banana pudding in the morning you liar! And that arm looks fine to me…"

Then, he stopped talking to the king and he left. He couldn't believe his father was not seeing the truth of the matter. He also wasn't in the mood for Sarzan's personality at that moment.

They all began to prepare to go back to the Royal Tribe, carrying the wounded and the fallen ones.

King Enma called Pedro Namikaze:

"Show me the amulet that Sarutobi gave you."

Pedro searched in his pocket, but it wasn't there anymore.

"One of your guards got it from me. It must be there, where I was before the battle began."

Enma took it seriously. He walked to that place and he looked around until he found it, close to the hand of his first fallen guard in the ambush. It was what he thought it was. "Hiruzen's amulet" was what he had given his friend Sarutobi as a token of friendship, many years ago. In exchange, Hiruzen gave him The Leaf's headband, which he liked to use often. Sarutobi had told him that he would give the silver amulet to the one that was going to be responsible for their meeting. In other words, this human was responsible for his first fateful meeting with Hiruzen Sarutobi. He was the reason why they met in the first place, according to Hiruzen himself. And that wasn't all, Hiruzen also told him that he would need to train that man to become an earth sage. He was going to save his life and even the Earth Realm itself, but for that to happen, he had to train him. He had to help this human to become the sage that would end up doing all those things. This human would make the connection between The Leaf and the Earth Realm as well.

Enma was realizing that it was the truth. Those words were not crazy, as he thought once. This guy had saved his life already. It was very difficult to swallow, but he had to believe in Hiruzen and he had to believe that not all men were like Zet Otsutsuki. Indeed, he had already met more than one that proved his big belief about mankind was wrong. Not all of them were like Zet…

Enma went back to where Pedro was and surprised him:

"I have chosen to believe you. I will help you to accomplish your mission for Sarutobi's clan. I will train you to become an earth sage, just as I trained my son Em. However, you will have to be like us and follow our customs at my tribe. Before you can train to be a sage, you must train in a team of three, like all of us, and become one with them in battle. My young son Sarzan has enough age for this elite training, so he will be your first teammate. I will let you pick your second teammate when we reach our tribe. I, personally, will lead the training for you three after the team is set up. Now, let's go back and recover from what happened here."

Pedro was amazed. He didn't expect such a drastic and sudden change of attitude. Just half an hour ago he wanted to kill him. He thought it was because he saved his life, but we know that there was much more to it than just that.

"Thank you King Enma, I will be eternally grateful if you help me to achieve it."

"Eh! Don't be so happy. What you want to achieve is pretty hard. Besides, I am well-known for being the toughest trainer of teams at the Royal Valley. Also, my sons are no easy customers either. Sarzan is a bit of a liar and is only good for earth-style techniques. That is why I want to supervise his training myself… so, what is your name human?"

"I am Pedro Namikaze."

"Namikaze, eh? You can refer to me as Master Enma from now on."

They were a little beaten up—both needed an hour of showering and a medic.

However, things were starting to look brighter for Pedro Namikaze at the Earth Realm of the Monkeys.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Team Namikaze


	23. Chapter 23: Team Namikaze

**CHAPTER 23: Team Namikaze**

Before they arrived at the Royal Tribe, Enma gathered everyone and told them that they would keep the events that happened a secret, just for now. They would prepare the village for the worst, but he considered that revealing that a massive ambush took place could cause fear in the tribe if it wasn't done correctly. He didn't want that. He would give the news a couple of days later and he was not going to mention Dormon as the culprit of the attack. Enma would blame it on the rogue tribe. He knew very well that the penalty for such a crime at the Earth Realm was death. Dormon would pay for it, but he didn't want to kill his oldest son, even if he was a criminal before.

The king also had other initial plans for the human. When the group was gathered, he told Pedro about them:

"You can't walk into our tribe like this. Most of us feel just like me about humans. It can cause a ruckus if you walk in there like this. So, you will wear this brown cape and cover your face the whole way, until we get to the royal residence at the center, which is where you will stay, until I make my announcement about what happened to us today.

You will also be tied as if you were a prisoner, but we will not treat you as if you were a dangerous one. I will set things straight first. After that, I will show you the whole tribe. Then, you will pick the third member of your team. We are going to begin very soon after that. You must be a successful team member from our tribe before I teach you anything else."

"I understand King Enma, and I will follow your plan. Thank you for helping me."

Pedro took the cape and covered himself with it. Then, he allowed the monkeys to tie him and gave his sword to one of them. Their tribe was nearby, so they were there pretty soon after that.

They looked beaten up and some of them were missing, so nearly everyone took notice, as soon as they went through the tribe's entrance. Clearly, something very bad happened. These were some of the elite monkey ninjas at the Royal Valley, so seeing this squad in that condition was going to make it really hard to hide anything. The truth was already visible.

Yoninke was walking close to the crowd when everyone was staring at them. He was carrying several fruits from the "monkey market" to his father's house. (Their "royal market" consisted of dozens of monkeys with their huge baskets that had various types of meats, fruits, and veggies. They had it all outside at a large open area in the tribe. They had no currency like us, instead, they exchanged things they could offer to get the goods they needed. They were traders, rather than sellers and buyers.)

Yoninke almost dropped half of the things he was carrying when he noticed one of the king's guards had a sword that looked just like the one "that human" had. It had been weeks since then, but he did not forget any detail about "Namikaze." He had not forgotten how good that chocolate bar tasted either. However… who was their prisoner? Could it be… him!?

Something didn't seem right. Yoninke could smell it. The prisoner, somehow, didn't feel like a prisoner at all.

Yoninke went back to his home, but the sight of the sword was still swimming in his mind. The blade was silver and the hilt was very visible because Pedro had wrapped it with a light green cover and its bottom, which had no wrapping, was golden. There was no doubt about it; it was the "Namikaze" sword that he had seen when that guy made him appear at the Human Realm.

Meanwhile, Pedro went through the tribe, but he didn't get to see anything because he covered himself with the cape and just followed the others during the entire route. The group went to the royal clinic first. They were cured there and the king made sure that the human was taken care of well too. This was somewhat shocking for the monkey nurses there. They didn't expect such a thing from him. After all, he had expressed his deep dislike—almost hate—for their kind.

Pedro was taken to the royal residence afterwards (sort of like the Hokage's building, but for the monkey king instead). There he was served banana pudding and some strange-looking mix of meats that came from animals at their forests (it was considered a special dish at their world). Sarzan had some of it too.

"I am the youngest elite at my father's top squad you know. This is the best food in this kingdom too," said Sarzan to Pedro.

Em looked at Sarzan and he didn't say anything; he was already used to it. He knew that his young brother was a major liar. Pedro was pretty clever though:

"Really? The king told me that he wants to train me in a team of three and he wants you to be part of it, just so that he can supervise your very first training to become an elite. He also told me that you are a bit of a liar."

Pedro sounded both friendly and sarcastic at the same time.

Sarzan almost choked with the piece of pudding that he was swallowing.

Em couldn't resist it, so he added what he was thinking as well:

"That is not the best food we have here either, but it is the one he likes best."

Sarzan didn't like being around Em too much because of this. Em always knew if he was saying the truth or not. He could read him because he knew him very well.

Pedro, however, expressed a view that Sarzan had not heard before, and he liked it:

"Sarzan, I don't mind it, don't worry about it. Just make sure that you only use these little lies of yours in ways that benefit others and never lie in our upcoming team-based training."

The human seemed like a good training partner to Sarzan. He didn't mind about the way he liked to be. That was unheard of to Sarzan.

The next day, King Enma gathered most of the monkeys and apes at the large plaza in the Royal Tribe and revealed what had happened at the new training grounds. He said everything, except the fact that a rogue monkey mentioned Dormon. He also revealed that the human was "not like others" and had "saved his life," so he planned to help him. His tribe would begin preparing for any other ambush with the help of the king's elite ninjas…

The next morning, Enma took Pedro Namikaze to see the Royal Tribe without capes or restrictions.

"Take a good look at everyone, especially at the young ones. I want you to pick the other team member by the time we reach the other end of the tribe."

They walked everywhere. Some monkeys looked at him with skeptic faces, but others liked him because he had helped the king and was on their side. In many ways, the monkeys lived just like humans did (in tribes) hundreds of years ago at the Human Realm.

There were many ninja monkeys; some looked pretty skilled, but none caught Pedro's attention as much as the one he saw when he reached the other edge of the tribe.

In front of one of the small monkey houses, there was one monkey that was "meditating" in a seated position, but not on the ground. He had his two samurai-like swords vertically on the ground, and his knees were resting on top of the two hilts. He also had a nearly flawless form. It looked pretty difficult. How could he keep himself like that without falling down? Obviously, the monkey had skills or, at the very least, he had incredible training discipline to achieve that.

Pedro went that way; and the king recognized who the monkey was—he had seen him once before and felt that he was a little eccentric. The king wasn't sure that considering that guy was a great idea, but he chose to let the human consider everyone.

As Pedro approached the monkey—whom was also using a white cape—he heard what another older monkey was telling this young and skilled one:

"You want to be king?! King my butt! You are going to be a professional meditator if you continue spending your time on this 'higher-thinking-for-training' nonsense! Son, wake up! No girls are going to be interested in you if all you do all day is this training crap. You should be trying to be a doctor at the clinic instead, that will get you further. There are other better candidates for the king position anyways. You should be pursuing something else. You will be a loser with no future if you stick to this crap!"

The young monkey was trying to ignore it all, but clearly, he looked annoyed.

Then, Pedro—who had been seeing the monkey from a side view—noticed what the cape said on the back. It said YONINKE in big red letters. He knew that guy already!

"Yoninke!"

When Yoninke heard Pedro, he lost his concentration and the balance with his two blades. The swords fell down and Yoninke jumped forward and landed gracefully, as expected from a trained ninja monkey like him. Yoninke didn't know what to say and he felt a little ashamed. (What happened there wasn't the image of the "mighty" ninja gorilla that he portrayed himself as.)

"Namikaze?! What are you doing here? Please, ignore what you heard. He doesn't understand how important it is to meditate and practice daily for a true warrior."

"True warrior!? At one-meter-tall, you probably wouldn't even get picked for the king's training squad, even with all your training. You need to face reality Yoninke!"

(His father was certainly harsh on him and not a supporter of the things he liked at all.)

Pedro Namikaze understood the situation and he also understood what was best for Yoninke. He talked directly to the father:

"Sir, your son has a unique skill that will end up being very useful for the Royal Valley and for the king. I know you think that he will end up being a loser, but I will prove you wrong about that belief if he joins us. He can do great things with this skill he has."

"How dare you contradict me you filthy human trash!"

(It was really hard to have a normal conversation with Yoninke's father, unless you were agreeing with him.)

Pedro turned around and, looking at the large ape behind him, said:

"King Enma, I have decided. I want Yoninke to be the third member of the team, alongside Sarzan and me. We will start the training with you as soon as you decide."

Yoninke and his father had not noticed that the king himself was nearby. They were at a total loss of words when they saw King Enma there.

The king crossed his arms and talked to Pedro first:

"I was starting to like you already, but I am doubting your judgement now. What makes you think that he is the best third member for the team?"

(Certainly, it sounded like a crazy team on paper: a liar that was great at earth-based techniques; a "monkey knight in shining armor" that liked to think of himself as a big mighty ninja; and a human that was crazy enough to travel to an unknown realm on his own. Nonetheless, it felt right to Pedro Namikaze and the events that followed proved that this was a great team indeed…)

For Pedro, the answer was clear:

"King, don't you see it? We have been through the whole tribe already, and the only one who was passionate enough about becoming a better ninja is him. He has made it part of his identity. No one else was doing any of this in public. He doesn't have any followers to cheer him up and even his father is against it, yet he continues training and he is clearly good at it. I can't think of a better final member for our team."

Enma was thoughtful.

"You have a good point, but being an eccentric is not necessarily a good thing. He doesn't look like an arrogant fool though, so he may just be very passionate about it as you say… I will accept it then. The ones driven by passion and a worthy goal, rather than by greed or power, make better candidates for good elite ninjas."

Yoninke's father didn't like what Pedro Namikaze said at first, but when the king walked towards them, nothing else mattered:

"Yoninke, you will come with us now for a long-term team-based training led by me," said Enma. Then, he looked at the father:

"I will make your son's talent useful to the Royal Tribe. He will train and live with us until he is ready to be one of our elite ninjas. Do you agree?"

The king had a voice tone that made it obvious that he was interested in recruiting Yoninke; this was not a joke, it was the real deal.

Yoninke's father felt hesitant at first, but even if he didn't want to admit it, he recognized that this was a good opportunity for his son. Despite his mood and his terrible way to handle things, he did care about his son.

"Yes, I accept it king. Anything is better than seeing him waste his time training while his future is still uncertain. If he can be one of your guards, then things may change for the better. I will let you take him with you if that can benefit him."

Yoninke was happy, but he was still asking himself how could Namikaze win over the king's full support. What did he do? Whatever the reason, it worked out well for him too. He left with Pedro and Enma that day and his life changed with all the events that followed…

Enma picked three large mountains from the new training grounds to train Pedro Namikaze, Yoninke, and his youngest son, Sarzan.

The first mountain was something that didn't exist at the Human Realm. It had a kind of earth that wasn't brown, dark, or reddish; it was white, yet it wasn't like sand from a beach at all. It was real earth. It even had some plants and trees growing there as if it was brown soil. Simply put, it was a mountain of white earth. The geological events that formed it had something different than the ones from the Human Realm at some point, and that factor gave a similar result with a different color. The white mountain had a steep incline too and it was fairly tall. It had some trees, but not many. It was tons and tons of white slippery earth and an incline that extended itself—going down—for almost one mile. The training that Enma had planned for that location was pretty interesting and it would end up being one of the most important for their team.

The second mountain was a shot of reminiscence for Pedro Namikaze because it looked like the ones at the Human Realm; it also had a striking resemblance to the one he used to train himself when he lived at Maida's village. Unlike the first one, this mountain wasn't inclined and its brown earth wasn't slippery either.

Finally, the third mountain was quite flat. You could say a great part of it was a plain. On one side, it was just a huge field of reddish earth and the other side was a small forest, which Enma didn't plan to use.

Those were the three sites used for the team's training with the king.

Their first day, Enma asked them to pick a name for their team. This wasn't important for Pedro, but it was a tradition for them, so Sarzan and Yoninke took it very seriously.

"Team Sarzan, that sounds like a cool name," said Sarzan, even though he knew his name wasn't the coolest one by any stretch of the imagination.

Pedro and Yoninke looked at him as if they had just heard a bad idea.

"That sounds like a good name for a trio of silly monkeys, we need something that sounds more ninja-like and more gorilla-like," said Yoninke, and he clearly wasn't lying or kidding about it. In that sense, he was very different from Sarzan.

"Team Yon or Team Yoninke may be better," added Yoninke.

And that didn't sound right either for Pedro and Sarzan.

"What is your idea Pedro?" asked Sarzan.

(Sarzan liked to call him Pedro and Yoninke called him Namikaze.)

"I will let you guys decide and if you have options, I will tell you which one I prefer."

Yoninke got a wonderful idea then:

"Namikaze you look like a standard human ninja, but your name sounds like it could fit well for a gorilla. Let's call it Team Namikaze."

"That is actually my last name Yoninke," pointed out Pedro.

"It doesn't matter, it sounds gorilla-like and ninja-like, that is what matters," declared Yoninke.

"You have a good imagination Yoninke," said Pedro, while trying to imagine Yoninke's train of thought (which certainly had gorillas involved). He simply couldn't see how his last name had anything in common with a big ape, but Yoninke did.

"I like it as well. It sounds good to me too," said Sarzan.

At that moment, Enma interrupted them:

"We don't have the whole day to pick a name! If this was a battle all three of you would be fried monkeys already! You two like Team Namikaze, so that's it, that will be the name then. Don't forget it. Now, we will start out serious team training. I won't focus you on the things that you excel at. You already have the potential to continue improving those on your own. I will force you to improve what you find hard to do on your own. I will also force you to fight as a team, together; and you are going to need it if you want to have any hope of winning against me.

Sarzan, you excel at all earth-based techniques, so you must improve your direct combat skills.

Yoninke, you seem very good at combat, but not good for any jutsu in particular; you must learn to handle that or else a powerful elemental ninja can defeat you quickly.

Pedro Namikaze… you seem very well-rounded, but you are not a true master at either combat or elemental techniques.

Team Namikaze has a lot to learn and improve, together and individually, if you wish to pass my tests.

You two must learn to be shifters, and Pedro, you have a very long way to go before you can become an earth sage, as you want."

All three of them understood what was coming and they were ready for it. Enma didn't intend to make them masters at their weaknesses either, but he understood how important it was to teach them to overcome them so that they would not end up being their downfall. He also had to teach them other important things, such as new skills, team maneuvers to increase their chances of success, and how to use each other's strengths so that they could complement each other better, as a true team.

Enma started them at the third mountain with some bo staff training, which was something that all three were not good at. Enma did this with every team that he trained because his own weaponized form—as a shifter—was a bo staff. Thus, if he ever needed to join forces with one of his trainees, they had to be able to fight using a staff. It didn't make sense to Pedro at first, but once Sarzan told him about his father's (and the monkeys') special skill of shifting to a weapon, and the fact that Enma was a staff in that form, it all made sense.

(A battle of Hiruzen and Enma—in staff form—versus a villain that appears later in this story took place in the original Naruto anime, at a time which is equivalent to various weeks after the departure of Pedro Namikaze.)

King Enma also trained them in the use of several earth jutsus at that mountain. Most were focused on using the vast amounts of earth as a tool to defend or to attack. Yoninke had the hardest time with this, so Enma, purposefully, focused most of the trainings there on him.

Next, they moved to the second mountain, which had a forest and looked very much like our mountains at the Human Realm. The trainings there were focused on direct combat, with and without weapons. Yoninke was the best at this, but Enma was just as good, despite being older and larger. Enma focused on his son Sarzan at that mountain.

Finally, they move on to the main training at the white mountain. There, Enma planned to focus on the whole team with a training strategy that was very well-rounded—just like Pedro Namikaze. He would wait for them at the bottom of the one-mile downward slide of white earth, which had some scattered trees as well (it was at a 30 degrees angle of inclination from the surface, pretty steep for sure, but still manageable). They would start at the top and take the massive natural slide on their way down. They had to remain on their feet the whole way too. Along the way, they had to fight each other using 50% of direct combat maneuvers and 50% of techniques that would take advantage of the terrain and its features. In other words, each one of them would have to last against the other two for the duration of the whole slide. On their way down, they also had to be careful so that they would not hit any tree or any white rock in their path. Furthermore, at the bottom they had to join forces and fight the king as a team. The goal was to train to defeat a more powerful enemy, right after the previous battle, and to force them to use a team-based well-coordinated strategy as their advantage against that final opponent.

They would also learn what their teammates were capable of because they had to train against each other for a long time at that mountain. They would only pass this team training if they managed to beat King Enma at the bottom though.

That training was the one they did the longest and it was much more challenging than what they expected at first. After all, Enma was not king just because he was huge or because he was the grandson of the previous monkey king. He was very tough and skilled; and he never went easy on them. Sure, he didn't hit them to kill, but he never allowed them to win either. They really had to trap him or leave him on the ground if they wanted to pass that test. Usually, they were the ones who ended up on the ground first. They did this training so much that they ended up knowing that mountain and its huge slide by heart, from top to bottom. And, after dozens of times, they were already thinking about how to fight Enma when they were still halfway down the one-mile slide.

Eventually, they started to work together much better, starting from the very top of the mountain's slide. It was vigorous training, but their way down was really a warm-up for the enemy at the bottom. Their coordination began to improve and soon Enma started to have a hard time against all three. One day, it finally happened: after Yoninke made a strategic team move that put him at a disadvantage, the other two gained a major advantage against Enma and they trapped him at the bottom with their combined earth jutsus. It was their first win against the king. That day, he knew that Team Namikaze was ready for the final training: fighting as one.

Enma began to train Sarzan and Yoninke as shifters. Sarzan had an easy time with it. It didn't take him long to turn into a flexible body armor—just like Enma's guard during the great ambush. Yoninke, however, couldn't do it. It wasn't working for him. There was a day when he complained too much about it and Enma lost his patience with him and gave him a serious wake-up call:

"I heard you talking with Pedro Namikaze about how you want to be a great ninja elite from the Royal Valley and even a future king, like me. Do you really want to make it happen? If yes, then stop your blabbering and start working harder and better from now on. I know no king and no elite who didn't master the art of shifting into the weapon that they are at heart."

Those words truly reached Yoninke. It was still very hard for him to achieve it, but he managed to turn into his sword form after all that hard work. It was easier to do it again after that.

Their last training as a team was fighting as one: Pedro Namikaze with the Yoninke sword and armor Sarzan. They had coordination fighting together, but each one was on their own. This was different. Now, they truly had to think as one to succeed. It was a disaster at first though…

"Learn how to swing Namikaze! Swing me like a gorilla!" ordered the sword, while it had an eye on the bottom of the blade looking straight at Pedro.

"Hey, be careful with me! Don't bend me too much!" shouted the armor (Sarzan) a little worried.

"Can you guys stop talking for a minute and stop staring at me?! I am not used to talking swords and armors!"

Things were not working well the first time, so Enma had to give them some advice:

"You two need to adapt to him and follow through with him, making his attacks and defense far more effective and unpredictable than they would be if he had a normal sword and a standard body armor. Sarzan you should focus on protecting and on warning him about anything he hasn't noticed. Yoninke you can bend and enlarge or shorten yourself in that form, so use that to make his sword attacks more than what most enemies would expect, but still predictable for him, based on what he is doing."

Enma was a crucial team trainer. He definitely made better ninjas and better teammates out of them. However, that was the last training they had together, before the great challenges that would come their way…

One day something changed abruptly. Enma had been gone for a couple of days and when he returned, he seemed worried and different. He wasn't himself. Something bad had happened; it wasn't at his realm though…

"This training is already over. You three work very well as a team and can be considered one of the elite teams from the Royal Tribe already. Our training shall end here. It is time for our human friend to become a sage. It is necessary to start as soon as possible. I can't even ensure that you will be able to do it Pedro, but it is necessary now.

Sarzan and Yoninke, you two will now join the elite ninja force at our tribe. You may see part of his sage training, which you will experience eventually as well, but it is not the right time for you two yet. For him, it must begin as soon as possible."

Enma's sudden haste was strange. The fact that he, a serious and strict trainer, was gone for two full days without any reason was also strange.

"What happened during the last two days King Enma? Were you summoned by Hiruzen?" asked Pedro, who realized that was a very plausible explanation.

Enma said the truth, but he didn't think that Pedro was ready to know the details about what happened, so he kept the crucial parts completely hidden from him:

"Yes, the conflicts over there are becoming worse and they are coming much faster than what my friend Hiruzen predicted. The Leaf may be in danger soon. Things won't be as they were before when you return. That is if you even manage to do it. I can't guarantee that you will reach the sage mode, but I promise to do my best to help you. Now, it is more important than ever. The Leaf needs someone like you."

The sense of urgency built up in Pedro Namikaze; it was time to find out what it would take to become a sage at the Earth Realm of the Monkeys.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Becoming a Sage


	24. Chapter 24: Becoming a Sage

**CHAPTER 24: Becoming a Sage**

The first day of the sage training, Yoninke and Sarzan went there to watch and learn, but they were not the only ones present; another older monkey from the king's elite group went with them. The new guy was wearing yellow clothes and a yellow headband. He looked odd in terms of clothing, since he was the only one out of the elite monkey ninjas that used yellow clothes.

They went to a new place that Pedro Namikaze had not seen yet. It was at a different location in the Royal Valley and in the opposite direction of the training grounds that team Namikaze used. It was closer to the limits of the Royal Valley than the training grounds and the land occupied by the Royal Tribe. It was a large open temple with no ceiling or doors; half of it was completely open to the outside. It had several statues of monkeys; some were large like Enma and others were smaller like Yoninke. All the statues looked very real. At the center of the temple, there was a large natural fountain with some sort of oil that didn't look clean at all. Close to it, there were five giant statues of the previous monkey kings. When they reached the fountain, Enma explained the temple's purpose:

"This is the Temple of the Sages. Here is where all the previous earth sages from the Royal Valley trained relentlessly, until they achieved our sage mode. This is one of the requirements to be a king at the Royal Valley, so all the previous kings, including me, achieved it. (Yoninke's ears and his attention jumped up when he heard that. Now, he had to become a sage too!) The largest statues here are those of our previous kings. Someday mine will be here too. The smaller statues over there are from trainees of the sage mode that took their chakra control way too far, hoping that they would become sages faster, and the result was that. They were turned to stone and the supervisors of their training, if any, couldn't bring them back in time. That is what happens if you can't control your absorption of natural chakra and, instead of stopping, you take it too far. It will start to solidify your body until you end up like that."

Yoninke and Sarzan looked a little worried. Was there any way to ensure that such a thing would not happen? There were a lot of smaller statues at that temple. Pedro was also concerned about it. It meant that dozens of candidates to become sages had failed, and their future was lost forever. Their statues were left there to remind the new candidates about the danger and the difficulty involved with what they sought.

"King Enma, is there any way to ensure that I will be successful in the sage training, no matter what?" asked Pedro.

Enma answered with absolute certainty:

"No one can ensure your success other than yourself Mr. Namikaze. However, no one has perfect chakra control either. And sage chakra, or nature's chakra, is much harder to gather and control than our body's inner chakra. Therefore, we had to find ways to help new aspiring sages to succeed. Nonetheless, whether you reach the sage mode or not will depend on the time you dedicate to the training, the patience and drive that you have to do it, and your innate talent for the art of chakra control and for the use of the earth-style. Not everyone can become an earth sage, but even the ones who can do not have it easy at all. Ultimately, it will depend on you.

We do have ways to help you though. That fountain over there contains a type of natural oil that makes it much easier to feel and gather sage chakra from the earth and from the natural environment all around us. This oil is absolutely necessary for newbies to be able to 'feel' natural chakra at all. You will have to learn to control it using that oil first and then without any of it, which is ten times more difficult at least.

Our friend Yashiro will help you with this process. He will be here with you every week. I have assigned this mission to him for the next two years."

"What?!" asked Yoninke a little perplexed.

Sarzan looked surprised too:

"Father, did you count that right?"

"Two years?" asked Pedro.

"Yes, two years and I am being optimistic. That is how much I expect it to take if you manage to do it. It could take even longer than that though. Controlling sage chakra is difficult and there is no easy way around it. No one has been able to achieve the sage mode in less than one year, except… expect that other human bastard, but he was not new to sage training from what I heard about him. Both Em and I took two years to master it and even we didn't reach the perfect earth sage mode. We managed to control it up to 90%, going further than that was too dangerous because the higher you go, the faster the body turns to stone if you lose your control even a little."

"What happens if I lose control and start turning into this 'stone' state? Is there any way to avoid it?"

"Pedro, that is why our lighting-style user, Yashiro, will be here with you. Ninjas that can use the lighting-style—which uses electric charges to defend and attack—are extremely rare. We are lucky that he and his father had this skill and they have helped our sage trainees for years. We found that being attacked with an electric charge cancels and reverts the solidification process that comes from losing control of high amounts of sage chakra. This way, you will not turn completely into stone, unless it is already too late. However, that shouldn't happen if you are careful and patient. You will end up hating this guy—Enma looked at Yashiro—but in reality he is here to save you, and without his help, you won't be able to become an earth sage."

Yashiro extended his hairy hand to Pedro:

"Nice to meet you Mr. Namikaze; I will be here to assist you. I will ensure that you don't end up as a rock like those guys."

Yashiro sounded and looked very carefree as if he was at a picnic. Yoninke and Sarzan looked far more concerned about this.

Once Pedro touched Yashiro's hand, he felt a sudden electric discharge go through his whole arm. The monkey was charged up like a living battery:

"You felt it, didn't you?" asked Yoshiro.

"Yes, I definitely felt that."

"The ones I will have to use to stop you once you start the solidification would have to be about five times more powerful. They won't cause any permanent damage, but they have to be strong enough to cancel out sage chakra and the solidification completely. They are pretty uncomfortable, so they will force you to do better, unless you want to continue getting shocks. You won't like it, but it is better than ending up as a statue for the rest of your life."

Pedro was starting to see why Enma said he had to be thankful, even though he would end up hating the guy. Yashiro's job was to electrocute him every time he failed, in order to save him.

Enma turned his attention to Sarzan and Yoninke:

"I hope you two listened well, since I want to see you two training to be sages someday, but that is not the only reason why I brought you here today."

Enma looked at Pedro and revealed a special summoning scroll that he had for him.

"Human Pedro Namikaze, you earned our trust and just like my old friend Sarutobi, you have helped us. Allow us to give you our help if you need it. This is a summoning contract between habitants of our realm and you. You will be able to summon those that accept it with their own blood. My signature is already in the contract. Now, both you and your two teammates should add yours. And from now on, you will able to summon any of us, either with this scroll or with the blood summoning, which doesn't require the scroll, but requires the contract with us."

Yoninke and Sarzan had to make a small cut on their thumb to sign with their own blood. They added their names to the list in the scroll, below Enma's name. The scroll had three names so far.

"You will be the owner of this scroll and the summoner, so your name must be at the very top," added Enma.

Pedro Namikaze did the same as his teammates and Enma gave him the scroll afterwards.

When Pedro placed the important scroll aside to begin the sage training, he could feel that things were going to change for him after that day. He even had his own summoning scroll now, like Hiruzen. He had also found an "experienced sage" who was willing to guide him, just like Jiraiya recommended. Everything was working out well; yet, the sharingan was giving him a feeling of uneasiness. The fact that Enma expected it would take two years was not comforting either. Was there something else that he didn't know? You bet there was, but Enma had chosen not to tell him anything about his last visit to the Human Realm because it could affect his concentration. The truth was that Enma wasn't helping him just because he saved his life and helped his tribe; there were other important reasons involved, such as what Hiruzen told him two years ago at Konoha—when Pedro was watching them. That was the strongest reason indeed, and now he believed it…

"Before we begin, submerge yourself in the Fountain of the Sages. You must be covered by the oil to start this process," ordered Enma.

Pedro walked towards the fountain, but he didn't like the sight of it very much. It definitely didn't look as pretty as "Fountain of the Sages" sounds. The oil looked like cat's urine—he thought. It wasn't clear whether it looked that way because that was its natural color or because it was dirty. However, there was no other way to do this, according to Enma, so he entered it, after leaving everything behind except the pair of shorts he had on. It was what had to be done if he wanted to become a sage. (Luckily, it didn't smell bad.)

The environment around him felt different when he came out soaked from the fountain. There was some sort of natural energy now and he could feel it, but he had never perceived it before he came in contact with the special oil from that fountain.

"The oil there is going to help you very much with this task," pointed out Enma.

Then, he explained what it would take to reach the Earth Realm's sage mode, which was the way to obtain the power of the earth sages:

"You will have to gather enough of this natural sage chakra to make it circulate through all of your body's chakra gates. It can be hard to control because it is different than your inner chakra and your own chakra will interfere, so you also have to balance the two giving preference to the sage chakra. Because of this, it is impossible to gather and control all the natural chakra you need if you are moving. You must concentrate on balance and control of sage chakra to reach the sage mode. You must be completely motionless, until you finish gathering and balancing all the sage chakra. You will be in sage mode as soon as you have enough sage chakra flowing through the body's chakra gates.

However, it will be an incomplete sage mode that may not last much, and it won't be as powerful either. For the true sage mode you must gather, balance, and control sage chakra until it flows naturally through all eight chakra gates and through all the paths among them as well. All of this must be done in balance with your own chakra as well. Otherwise, your inner chakra will interfere with the process. You also have to gather the same amount of sage chakra at the same speed, until you feel you have enough. If you change the speed or the amount even a little, parts of your body will start to feel different and they will begin to turn to stone. The same thing will happen if you fail to stop your own chakra from interfering.

Sage chakra will turn you into stone gradually as soon as anything fails during the process, even by a minor margin. If it is not under your control, it will turn you to stone. If you gather too much or too little, too fast or too slow, or out of balance with your inner chakra, you will start to turn into a statue. Yashiro's mission is to stop that from happening, but you must be careful. If it happens too quickly, he may not be able to stop it. Make sure that never happens. I wouldn't like to see you end up as decoration here.

For sage training, achieving the goal is more important than how long it takes, so do not be concerned about time, instead focus on getting it right."

Pedro Namikaze realized there was something very contradictory about the sage mode.

"King Enma, if it takes so much time and concentration to reach this sage state, how can it be used effectively in battle? The enemy certainly won't wait for me to reach sage mode."

"Indeed, you are right about that. That is why I couldn't use it back then, during the great ambush. We were very lucky that Em had enough time to use it. Just becoming a sage is already hard enough. However, you will also need to figure out how to cut the time it takes for you to reach it and, even then, you still need to delay opponents somehow. I haven't seen anyone reach the sage mode in less than one minute. The truth is that if you are alone, you won't be able to use it in battle, unless you are already in sage mode when the battle starts. If you have a team covering you, it may be possible to reach it too, but it is unlikely and too risky."

This was a huge problem. Common sense dictated that no opponent would give you enough time for sage mode. What was the utility of it if you didn't even have the chance to use it? There had to be some way around it…

Pedro Namikaze remembered the battle with the green-haired rogue ninja (Zet Otsutsuki) at Maida's village. He also remembered what Em did at the ambush—he was very close to Em and Sarzan when it happened. Em took close to five minutes to achieve sage mode. Zet, however, was on another level. He did it in just one minute, which was the time it took for Pedro Namikaze to get through Zet's solid clones. This was a clever idea indeed. The shadow clones jutsu that Hiruzen taught him could work well. However, at that time he could only create a maximum of five shadow clones. That didn't seem like enough. Shadow clones were gone as soon as they were stricken by any powerful attack. That wasn't going to last long enough against a powerful enemy to reach sage mode. He needed a better strategy.

In addition, King Enma wasn't going to help him too much with this training. He just planned to check on his progress weekly. And Yashiro was there just to ensure he wouldn't die. In reality, he was on his own for the real sage training.

"I will come here the last day of each week to see how much you have advanced. For now, I can't help you much. You are the one that has to learn how to control sage chakra on your own. Yashiro will be here with you too. You may also bring your teammates, but they are now part of our elite squads, so they will be busier. They can't be here with you if they have any other assigned duty.

You will have to figure out how to use your time in the most effective manner. I recommend doing other activities and other trainings as well. That way, you won't be frustrated by how slow and difficult this process is."

King Enma didn't stay there for much longer and both Sarzan and Yoninke had to leave as well.

Pedro Namikaze began to work on sage chakra control. He felt how the "outer energy" was attracted to the oil on him and how it was making him feel different as he gathered more and more. Then, he just blinked and it all got out of control. His body's movement began to feel difficult. At that moment, he felt an electric shock, as soon as Yashiro used one of his low-level lighting-style techniques on him:

"Oooooouuuch! That hurt!"

"Look at your left leg Mr. Namikaze," pointed out Yashiro.

It returned to normal, but it had a somewhat gray color. It was the same color that all the smaller statues had.

He kept on trying it again and again, but the result was always the same. He quickly realized that he had to do it sitting down and with his eyes closed to avoid moving and blinking. Regardless, it was very hard to maintain a balance with his inner chakra while keeping a steady assimilation of natural chakra at a constant rate. In a span of ten minutes, Yashiro had to use his technique on him eleven times. It was too much for both of them.

"Mr. Namikaze, I can't do this nonstop the whole day. By the time I do this a hundred times I feel exhausted, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to continue. I may fail if I am too tired and it is not good for you to receive this many electric shocks daily either. There is a limit to how much we can do each day. That is why this training takes so long, even for the ones that make it at the end."

It really was going to be much more difficult than what Pedro imagined at the beginning. (Jiraiya warned him about it, but no one understands this kind of experience, until they experience it directly. Then, it becomes clear.)

The first week went by and he had not made much progress, besides realizing that he needed to sit down and close his eyes to increase his level of concentration and to adopt a motionless posture. And the real deal was supposed to be much harder than that (he had to achieve it without the oil after that). It was clear that the oil was making it much easier to control natural chakra-as much as ten times easier.

Becoming a sage was madness. Anyone that didn't see it as their life's primary mission would quit for sure. He saw it that way, but still, a new way, an easier way, was absolutely necessary. It was necessary for The Leaf, so he could not take forever to do it either. Therefore, he found other ways to handle it better. You may say he found a smarter way to achieve the same final goal. And he also followed King Enma's advice: he did other valuable things along the path to becoming a sage. (Daily sage training on its own without any other activities would have surely driven him crazy.)

He got to know the whole Royal Tribe and most of the monkeys that lived there. He learned more about the Earth Realm from a small bookstore there and picked up a notebook, a writing-feather, and bottles of ink. He used the notebook as a diary where he recorded his findings and his advances in sage training. He also wrote about the other experiences he had before. He remembered Shiho, the smart librarian from The Leaf, and her request. Then, he saved two interesting books about the Earth Realm for her. They were titled "Treasures of the Royal Valley" and "History of the Earth Realm."

He focused on training different requirements for success separately. He had to train to maintain a posture with zero movements for long periods of time. He did this on the branches of some trees outside of the Temple of the Sages. He used two shadow clones to grab him from any unexpected fall, or in case anything went wrong. He also trained to balance sage chakra and inner chakra without increasing the levels of sage chakra. He focused on training the balance by itself, without having to worry about the other factors too. Yashiro was with him every day, although he didn't have to use his electric charges when no sage chakra was involved in Pedro's trainings. (Yashiro was just a guardian there, making sure that he would never turn to stone. Pedro Namikaze was training himself on his own pretty much.)

One day, Pedro made his shadow clones do the sage chakra control training as well, and by mere coincidence, he found a secret that only Zet and Naruto had exploited: when the clones failed, they disappeared and no statue was left behind, but what they felt and what they learned returned to Pedro, as if he had done it himself. And that wasn't everything; if he canceled the shadow clone jutsu and the clones disappeared before they failed, then all their gathered and controlled sage chakra was transferred to Pedro entirely and in an instant. This was a safe and effective way to speed up the whole process by a factor equal to the number of shadow clones available. The clones were the key to learning any new technique five or six times faster than normal for Pedro Namikaze. (He could only make five clones at first, later he reached a maximum of six and that was it for him. Naruto, on the other hand, was capable of making hundreds of shadow clones, thanks to being the junchuriki of the Nine-Tails. This made his inner chakra hundreds of times greater than that of Pedro Namikaze's; and inner chakra was what mattered to make shadow clones. Needless to say, this was one of the abilities that made Naruto Uzumaki so great in the long-run.)

Yashiro noticed that Mr. Namikaze's improvements were bigger and more frequent than before since he started to make his shadow clones do the trainings as well. He was advancing much faster—by a factor of five to be exact.

In just one month after that, he achieved the natural state that started to turn the skin around his eyes brown and his eye color from brown to yellow. This was the same thing that happened to Em and Zet before. Zet's was different though. He had used both the earth sage mode and the slug sage mode simultaneously.

The earth sage mode was the equivalent of opening five of the body's eight chakra gates via the forbidden taijutsu technique, but it didn't harm the body at all. It also increased the power of earth-style techniques exponentially, which opened a whole new array of devastating attacks for any earth ninja. (The earthquake jutsu and many others were not possible without the earth sage mode.)

Enma moved him to the next phase as soon as he saw that Pedro could do it using the oil:

"Now it is time for you to begin the most difficult part, and the part that most trainees don't finish. You have to reach the sage state without any help from the oil. The oil is a life-saver, but it won't allow you to reach 100% of sage mode and it is also a problem for any real battle. Fighting with that oil all over you would be a major disadvantage. It is just meant to help you get the initial feel of what it is like and to know when you have reached the sage state."

When Pedro tried it without the oil for the first time, it became clear that it was inhumanly difficult. He barely felt the natural chakra without the oil from the fountain. However, he did feel it now, even if it was very faint, and that wasn't the case before the first two months of training with the oil's help. He finally understood why Enma thought that he would need two years. At least, he had the help of the shadow clones. Without them, there was little hope of making it in two years. He wasn't 100% sure that he could do it, but not getting there was not an option. He had to do it.

During the months that followed, he continued keeping track of his efforts and writing about all the things he tried out in sage training. He found that it was a little easier to do it outside of the temple and close to vast amounts of earth. He also travelled back to the Uchiha village at the Human Realm, and he began to learn the sharingan's genjutsu techniques from the first Uchiha stone. He practiced the genjutsu he learned with Yoninke, Sarzan, and Yashiro at the Earth Realm. However, he never went back to The Leaf because he promised Hiruzen that he was not going to come back until he had achieved the mission. He would become an earth sage that would be able to give sage training to others at The Leaf.

The monkeys were amazed with the sharingan's power. Yashiro even said that such a power could be as useful as the sage mode itself because changing the opponent's perception of reality was just as good as having much more power and speed. The sharingan's genjutsu could make others see things that were not happening. For example, they would see a sword coming at them, but there was no sword at all. It was capable of changing their perceptions temporarily as well. Yoninke and Sarzan felt and saw cracks on the ground, so they jumped to avoid falling down, but there were no cracks. By the time they noticed that the cracks they felt were not there, Pedro Namikaze had gained an advantage over them in the sparring. It was harder to fight him with his new ability to use the sharingan and its normal genjutsus; they could avoid looking at his sharingan eye altogether, but that wasn't very easy in the middle of a battle. The only disadvantage of using genjutsus and the sharingan itself was that it took away even more chakra than most earth-style jutsus, so its use was limited.

The weeks and the months went by, and the trainings and the life at the Earth Realm continued…

An entire year went by before the earth sage of The Leaf reached his goal. It was the most difficult thing he had achieved in his life—the same thing that Jiraiya mentioned about his own sage training with the toads of Mount Myoboku at the Realm of the Frogs. After months and months of alternating the sage mode training with many other activities and different trainings, he finally reached the sage state without using the oil at all. This was thanks to the shadow clones. He would have not achieved it if Hiruzen had not taught him that technique. He also managed to raise his limit of shadow clones to six, speeding up the process a little more.

Without the clones it could have taken five more years. Most people would have given up before that, but the Fourth Hokage's father was not like most people. His good ideals were his driving force and he was willing to do anything for them. Nothing else was as important for him.

It was just like Zet Otsutsuki, but Zet's motives were very different. He didn't care about others like Pedro Namikaze; he only wanted the power to surpass his father, the Sage of the Six Paths, and his two gifted brothers, Asura and Indra. He wanted to make his own new ninja world at the Human Realm. However, he needed the immense power of the Ten-Tails and more to achieve that. His only way to do it was the "Moon's Eye Plan" and the Infinite Tsukuyomi genjutsu, which required the power of the Ten-Tails and someone who had two rinnegan eyes. Since his father, the almighty Sage of Six Paths, was gone and he was not going to cooperate even if he was revived, a revived Madara Uchiha that believed the plan was for his own takeover was Zet's best bet at completing the plan. Zet also needed all that power to ensure that he would be able to defeat Su Otsutsuki (Black Zetsu), who's power matched his own, almost like a twin; "Goddess" Kaguya, if the Infinite Tsukuyomi ended up bringing her to life, instead of just taking over the Human Realm; and the king of the Snake Realm, who had cursed both Su and him with their Zetsu body. He knew that fighting any of them before attaining that power meant that victory was not guaranteed for him, even thought he had the mighty powers of Spiral too. He considered them the only powerful foes blocking his path to the fulfillment of his dream...

(Reminder: The rinnegan is the final form of the sharingan—a whole new eye after the mangekyou sharingan—one that only Madara Uchiha and the Sage of Six Paths had awakened.)

Sage training continued for Pedro Namikaze with the king's help. Enma taught him his own sage techniques. Pedro also had to work on lowering his time to achieve sage mode. Even using six shadow clones and adding their sage chakra to himself, he still needed three minutes to reach sage mode. Enma was now starting to see why Hiruzen Sarutobi was not lying about anything he told him about this Namikaze fellow. Now, the king saw Pedro Namikaze as a whole new human that was capable of being the same person that Sarutobi had described—someone who would change the Earth Realm's destiny and his own…

Becoming a sage was a monumental sacrifice for Pedro Namikaze, but after almost two years, he had done it. He reached 90% of the earth sage mode, like Em and Enma. It wasn't its perfect state yet, but it was very close to it.

(Jiraiya achieved 80% of the toads' sage mode. Naruto—who was Jiraiya's apprentice during three years that started five months after Pedro's departure from The Leaf—achieved 100% of the toads' sage mode.)

One day, in front of the Uchiha stone at the desolated Uchiha village, Pedro Namikaze thought that it was time to return to The Leaf. It was time to share everything with his true clan, which was not the Royal Tribe from the Royal Valley, even though they were like family already. He decided to summon Yoninke, then Sarzan, and finally King Enma to thank them. He planned to do it above, on the village's open street. He thought that he was going to be back at Konoha soon after that. It had been two years since he left.

He stood at the center of the street and summoned Yoninke using the summoning scroll, just like he had done it two years earlier with Hiruzen's scroll.

"Summoning jutsu! Yoninke!"

What he saw and the events that followed changed everything for him.

Something terrible had happened at the Royal Valley…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Escapee


	25. Chapter 25: The Escapee

**CHAPTER 25: The Escapee**

Yoninke was full of blood and sweat. His ninja clothing had been teared apart. It looked like it had been the result of a furious battle. There was a long trail of blood coming from his head and going down his body, from his face to his belly. He had a serious cut on his head. He also had many traces of recent blood all over his clothes. He was holding his two bloody blades with his right hand and was also pressing his right shoulder with his other hand. It seemed like he had another big injury there. His eyes looked cloudy, as if he was about to pass out.

This sight sent a serious feeling of alarm through Pedro's mind:

"Yoninke! What happened to you!?"

Yoninke noticed him, but his eyesight was blurry. He even had blood close to his eyes. He talked with the voice of a monkey that had exhausted all of his strength. This wasn't his normal self (except for his fixation with gorillas):

"Namikaze? Thank the all mighty gorilla lord that you are here… I don't think I have much time left…"

Yoninke dropped his twin blades to the ground at the Uchiha village and he began to fall down, but Pedro grabbed him before he reached the ground.

"There were many ambushes like the one from two years ago… no, it was a full-fledged invasion. The Royal Tribe was taken over by all the other tribes. They came together against us… Dormon is leading them… I escaped before being executed, but I had to fight against the whole squad and their elite leader. King Enma was taken prisoner after a long battle… I think they plan to kill him… you have to help them… I was hit by a poisonous bug-dart…"

Yoninke couldn't say anything else since he was in the border of losing consciousness. He had lost a lot of blood.

Pedro Namikaze quickly attempted to summon Sarzan and Enma:

"Summoning jutsu! Sarzan!

Summoning jutsu! King Enma!"

However, neither of the two summonings worked. Something was wrong.

He was really worried, but he had to forget about the others. He had to save Yoninke first. Only an experienced medical ninja could do that. He didn't even know what a "poisonous bug-dart" was.

(It was a dart that contained a tiny poisonous bug inside. The dart injected it inside the victim. Then, the bug entered the bloodstream and fed itself with blood, making the victim feel weaker as time went by. Moreover, the bug's instinct was to seek the heart and once it reached it, it injected its poison and killed the victim. This was a very lethal weapon used by the worst rogue tribes at the Earth Realm, but these bugs also existed at the Human Realm.)

Pedro knew that the only place with expert medical ninjas in the nearby lands was The Leaf. However, it wasn't very close to the Uchiha village. He wasn't going to make it in time!

There was no other choice though; he had to make it! He grabbed Yoninke, made the special chakra seal from H.O.'s Uchiha stone, and, desperately, seeked The Leaf and its central hospital with the sharingan. As soon as he located a room with doctors at the Central Hospital, he didn't hesitate; he used the teleportation summon within the same realm:

"Summoning jutsu!"

He fell there, in the middle of the room, with bloody Yoninke on his arms. He almost killed the nurses from a heart attack with that sudden arrival out of nowhere.

"I need an expert medical ninja here! He needs urgent attention now. Please hurry!"

He still had The Leaf's headband—the one that Hiruzen gave him—and he was wearing it that day on his forehead. That was the only reason why the medical ninjas and nurses there trusted him. They didn't know him though.

The woman in charge of the group there stepped forward, ready to help:

"This must be your lucky day agent—she supposed that he was an Anbu ninja that she didn't know yet. My name is Shizune and I am one of the best medical experts at The Leaf's hospital. Only the Hokage surpasses my skill. You came to the right place. Let's save him now!"

Yoninke was placed on a special small bed used for children's injuries and urgencies. The whole group began to work on Yoninke with Shizune at the center leading the entire healing procedure.

Pedro didn't recall seeing Shizune at The Leaf two years ago. She was certainly new there, but that didn't matter much to him now. He was too worried about Yoninke. He didn't even realize that The Leaf had a fifth and new Hokage monument at the mountain. Hiruzen was not The Leaf's Hokage anymore…

During the procedure, one of the nurses said a comment that annoyed Pedro Namikaze:

"You care a lot about your pet, don't you?"

"Pet? He is not a pet, he is my best friend!"

Pedro was more worried than he had ever been in the last two years. He typically didn't react to things this way, but this was an extreme situation for him.

Shizune had already cured most of Yoninke's wounds, but something else was wrong. She went to Pedro:

"What happened to him? Most of the wounds are closed and healed, including the one on his head, but he is not getting better."

"He was hit with a poisonous bug-dart," said Pedro.

Shizune looked concerned when she heard that.

Those things had not been used in warfare at the Human Realm for decades, but she knew about them from a medical book she read. Those bugs were a real problem. They were very hard to remove because of their unpredictability. They were also very rare at the Human Realm. Even Shizune had never done a removal of one. The worst part was that she knew there wasn't much time left.

She talked to Pedro:

"Listen, there isn't much time left to save him. The poisonous bug that was injected in his bloodstream must be extracted before it reaches his heart. We have to open the correct spot where it is going to pass through and take it out as soon as it gets there. This must be done before it gets too close to his heart. The problem is that we don't have any way to know what path that thing will take for sure. If we don't pick the right path, he will die. I can't guarantee that we will be able to save him."

Yoninke began to wake up from his half-conscious state and he started to see several humans, including Pedro.

"I can help you to know where this bug is and where it will go," affirmed Pedro, pretty sure about what he was saying.

Then, Shizune noticed his red sharingan eye. She was much more concerned about his identity now—she knew the only two owners of a sharingan at The Leaf were Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi. However, saving her patient was more important at that moment.

Yoninke was better. The major threat left was the bug, but the rest had been healed pretty well. His life was still at the mercy of a gamble, from Shizune's point of view, and at the mercy of the sharingan's accuracy, from Pedro's point of view.

Pedro Namikaze walked towards Yoninke and grabbed a long thin knife.

"Let's take that killer bug out of him now!"

"Hey! HeeeY! Are you out of your mind Namikaze!?"

Yoninke definitely didn't like the way that knife and the sharingan looked, but his hands and legs had been tied to the bed.

Some of the nurses were very surprised. The monkey talked!

Shizune already knew the truth though. She knew this monkey was not like the ones at the Human Realm. His anatomy was a little different. He was a summoned habitant from one of the other realms. However, hearing the name "Namikaze" from the monkey was what truly surprised her. She knew that was the Fourth Hokage's last name, which was not common at all.

"I can see where the bug is and where it might go with my eye's power; let's do this," said Pedro.

"Let's give it a try," said Shizune, giving him her approval. Then, she added:

"And we will remove it using that long sharp knife you got, as soon as you are sure about its upcoming path."

Yoninke didn't like the sound of that at all:

"You humans are crazier than us monkeys and gorillas! Where is the anesthesia!? Don't put that huge knife in me without anesthesia, you animals! You shall witness the wrath of mighty Yoninke!"

Obviously, Yoninke was back to his normal self, but as long as the bug continued advancing, his life was uncertain.

Shizune covered Yoninke's mouth with some tape to stop the monkey's commotion. Then, another medical ninja injected him with something that would knock him out for a few minutes.

Pedro focused the sharingan on Yoninke's shoulder, where the dart had penetrated initially. Shizune and the others brought an apparatus that could see the bug, but the insect had to be located first—it was really tiny.

When the sharingan perceived the right location, it was already closer to the heart than expected. Next, it had two paths to take, one was a big artery and the other was a vein; both would take it directly to Yoninke's heart. That was their last chance to save him. They had to pick one and extract the bug there. If it chose the alternate path, Yoninke would die.

Pedro felt that it was going to take the artery, but he was wrong. It took the vein's path.

Shizune looked sad and disappointed.

"I am sorry, there is nothing we can do now. If we try the extraction too close to his heart, it will kill him. And once it gets there, it will also kill him… we did the best we could."

Pedro was not willing to accept it. The sharingan and he… neither saw Yoninke as dead. It could not end like that. He would not allow it to end that way.

He did the unthinkable, but, somehow, he already knew that it was possible. It was the instinct of an eye that had already awakened this form before—since the day when it became his.

The sharingan began to get brighter and more red. Its intensity was greater than what Pedro had experienced from it so far. Then, it happened again: the three black commas of the sharingan went towards the pupil and joined it. When they came back, they looked like three dark infinity signs. They joined together around the pupil, forming a triangular perimeter around it.

Pedro Namikaze experienced the sharingan's transformation to its mangekyou form, which had already been awakened by Maida Uchiha when she changed his fate and saved him. He—like Maida—changed the course of future events by saving Yoninke.

The poisonous bug changed its direction and went back to take the artery's path instead. This behavior was unheard of. Obviously, it was affected by the mangekyou sharingan.

Shizune and her team had not removed their medical equipment from that path, so they were able to remove it, thanks to Pedro Namikaze.

Pedro freed Yoninke from the bed, removed the tape from his mouth, and grabbed him; he had no time to lose. The Royal Tribe was in danger and they had to return.

"Thank you Shizune, without your help my friend would have died. After I help him and his tribe, I will come back to The Leaf again. I fulfilled my mission for the Hokage. Give him my greetings. I never knew that he was a master at medical techniques too. The Third is a blessing for The Leaf indeed. Tell him that Pedro Namikaze became a sage, as he wanted. Good bye Shizune."

By the time he finished talking, he already had the seal and the sharingan ready for the teleportation summoning to go back to the Uchiha village. From there, he planned to go to the Earth Realm again. He couldn't stay at The Leaf now.

Shizune and the others were perplexed.

Who was this guy? Who was Pedro Namikaze?

Clearly, he didn't know that Hiruzen Sarutobi was dead. Hiruzen had been killed by the evil rogue ninja Orochimaru during his clan's failed invasion against The Leaf, which happened after the Chunnin Exams. That was weeks after Pedro Namikaze left The Leaf for the first time.

Shizune noticed that he wasn't aware about the changes and the difficulties that The Leaf had experienced in the last two years. He also reminded her about her childhood's friend, the gifted blonde boy, Minato, who also knew a technique to appear and disappear at other places, just like this guy. He looked different than Minato, but there was something familiar about him.

The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, found out about what happened from Shizune. She showed a lot of interest about it and asked Shizune several questions. She wanted to know what he looked like. Shizune described his black hair, his brown eyes, and everything else that she remembered. Indeed, it was just as Tsunade remembered too. He was the same Pedro Namikaze that she had met in her childhood, when she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were Hiruzen's first students…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Sharingan's True Power


	26. Chapter 26: The Sharingan's True Power

**CHAPTER 26: The Sharingan's True Power**

Pedro Namikaze and Yoninke appeared at the Uchiha village. Pedro had left his sword there and other weapons, such as explosive shurikens. Yoninke was not in optimal condition, but his wounds had been cured and he was ready to fight again. They were worried about the others at the Royal Valley, so both got ready to make the jump to the Earth Realm right away. They were not thinking very clearly because it was obvious that they couldn't stop an invasion of that scale on their own.

(Dormon united all the rogue tribes and became their new leader. He convinced them about the importance of conquering and destroying the Royal Tribe; only then they would be the true rulers and kings of the Earth Realm. However, he just wanted to be the new king at the Royal Valley and had never had any real concern about the wellbeing of the other tribes. Unfortunately, the rogue tribes were wild and not very smart, so they just followed the stronger, or more powerful, leader and paid little attention to whether he was good or not. That was the main reason why they, unlike the Royal Tribe, had never advanced as a whole, and just continued their wild ways of living ad infinitum.)

Yoninke was ready for the longer trip to his realm. Pedro prepared the special seal and the Earth Realm's summoning seal. Then, he grabbed Yoninke, placed the Earth Realm's seal on their bodies, and started to use the sharingan. He found a good location, not too far from the Royal Tribe, that looked safe for teleporting. However, something unexpected happened before he could use the teleportation summoning.

He felt a sharp pain in his sharingan eye that he had never experienced before. When it began, he lost control of the two seals, lost the sharingan's view from the Earth Realm, and dropped Yoninke. He had to place his hand on the sharingan because he could feel that it was hurting the eye's surrounding skin.

"Namikaze! What's going on! There is blood coming from the bottom of your eye!"

He removed his right hand from his right eye—the sharingan—and realized that his vision was blurry. He had blood on his hand too. Why was this happening? Had he used the sharingan too much? Was it the mangekyou transformation that it experienced?

He fell down and everything went dark for a while…

When he woke up he wasn't with Yoninke. Everything around him was very dark. He was at the sharingan's dark realm, the place where he had many prophetic visions years ago, after the tragic battle with Zet Otsutsuki (White Zetsu). It had not changed at all; the dark void looked just like it did two years ago.

He had no visions now, but… there was someone there.

A man with a large white cloak and strange hair was holding a black staff and facing the opposite way of Pedro Namikaze, just a few meters away from him. His white cloak had nine red commas at its center that looked like the three black commas of a normal sharingan. Moreover, the cloak had a red circle right above the commas, with many other concentric circles within. What was the meaning of all those symbols? Pedro Namikaze did not know. The guy's hair color was somewhat pale, so he certainly wasn't young, and it wasn't very clear whether his original hair color had been light yellow or light red. The black staff he was holding had a golden circle at the top with many small golden rings resting on it. Pedro had never seen anything like it and he had never seen this man before. The man looked like some sort of holy monk with the staff of a king.

"Who are you? Why am I seeing you here? Why am I here now?"

Pedro asked as if the stranger truly knew the answers to his questions—and he knew them indeed.

The mysterious man didn't turn around, so his face wasn't revealed yet, but he did answer the last question:

"This is the realm of the special sharingan, a place that only those who have it can visit. This is a place that is not bound by anything other than your special sharingan and its current level. Here there is no time and no connection to anything in the outside. However, here you can take glimpses at the future. You will have control over it if your sharingan reaches its ultimate form, like mine, but even if it doesn't you may end up here and see visions that you cannot control. That is more likely to happen after you take the sharingan to its limit. At this very moment, that is happening to you."

The man with the cloak and staff looked real and his voice explained everything clearly. He definitely didn't look like a vision of the future, like the others Pedro had there. This was real, or at least, it felt like it.

"Why don't you turn around so that I can see you? Who are you and why are you here now?"

The holy-looking white cloak and this man certainly didn't give the vibes of an enemy, but everything about him and his purpose was unknown.

"You will know who I am in due time. For now, all you need to know is that you must go back to the other Uchiha stone and use your new mangekyou sharingan there. You must learn what it will show you before you go back to the other realm. That is absolutely necessary."

Pedro Namikaze was in disbelief. How could this person know all of this?! He was sure that no one saw him when he found that hidden stone. Only the monkeys knew the details about it, but they had never seen it and they didn't know where it was.

"Why should I trust you now? I don't even know who you are. I haven't even seen your face."

"I am the one that helped you to find the way to go to the other realms. I am here because if I don't warm you about what you must do now, then you and your friends will die today. I will leave you now and you will learn the sharingan's ultimate genjutsu from the stone that I wrote for you. If you leave before that both, our realm and their realm, will fall."

The unknown man turned his face and looked directly at Pedro with his right eye. He had said all that he needed to know for now…

"Good luck," said the mysterious one with a minor smile on his lips.

After saying that, the vision began to disperse and the mysterious one disappeared completely.

It had been a vision too, but Pedro knew that this one was very different. It was not controlled by him, but rather by that holy-looking person.

Furthermore, he saw the man's face sideways when he turned around a little to say his last words. He caught a sight of both of his eyes. He had never seen eyes like those before. Were they the sharingan's final form? The man's eyes were light violet and they had black concentric circles around their center. They were just like the circle on the back of his cloak, but they were violet, rather than red. They looked different than both the normal sharingan and the mangekyou sharingan.

There were many questions still, but Pedro felt that what he heard was the truth. He had to follow the advice—he thought. This man could be "H.O."—the one that gave him the two keys to go to the Earth Realm. That was the only way to explain how he knew so much... However, why did he have to create the two Uchiha stones? Why didn't he tell him all the things he needed to know right away?

There were many questions, but none of that mattered as much as saving the ones at the Earth Realm. However, failure was not an option there. He chose to trust the advice because he truly believed that the unknown messenger was trustworthy…

When Pedro opened his eyes again, at the Uchiha village, Yoninke was holding him and was somewhat desperate because he couldn't go back leaving Pedro like that. Besides, he didn't know how to cancel the summoning jutsu, so he couldn't go back without Pedro.

Pedro Namikaze stood up right away and looked in the direction of where the other Uchiha stone was hidden.

"What's wrong with you? You were knocked out with blood in your eye and now you stand up like nothing happened! Now you are worrying me more than the ones at your hospital Namikaze."

"Calm down Yoninke. I had another one of those visions that I told you about before. There is something that I must do before we leave. It will raise our chances of saving everyone. Come with me…"

As soon as they reached the secret Uchiha stone, Pedro Namikaze sat down close to it and he began to remember what helped him to awaken the mangekyou sharingan. This time it felt less intense—maybe because his friend's life wasn't on the balance—but its use was straining his eye and his mind, nonetheless. He had to hurry.

Quickly, he looked at the stone with the mangekyou and located a section of writing that was not visible before. It explained how to use the mangekyou sharingan to cast Tsukuyomi—the sharingan's most mind bending genjutsu—on someone. The enemy had to be fairly close and looking directly at the sharingan with both eyes when Tsukuyomi was used on them; otherwise, it would not be effective. Tsukuyomi was capable of changing someone's perception of reality completely, but it was also very taxing for the sharingan and for its user.

(Pure-blooded Uchihas could use Tsukuyomi for one minute and make it last, in the victim's mind, for up to 72 hours. Non-Uchihas with a sharingan, like Pedro Namikaze, could only use it for a few seconds and the victim would have their reality reshaped for up to two hours.)

Anything was possible within the imaginary realm of Tsukuyomi. This was why Zet and Su wanted to revive the Ten-Tails and an Uchiha master with rinnegan eyes, like Madara, to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi for them (only the sharingan's final form could cast it and only two people in history had been able to awaken it: Madara and the Sage of Six Paths). It was the most efficient way to control the whole Human Realm; and it was not going to affect them because they weren't quite human, since the day when they became "White" and "Black" Zetsu. Genjutsu techniques didn't work on them. They didn't work on Spiral either. The battle they had with Spiral and the other guardian at the Realm of the Snakes had truly marked their lives forever…

Yoninke was with Pedro close to the Uchiha stone and, all of a sudden, he was at the Earth Realm's large plains of earth, not far from the Royal Tribe. There was no one there besides him and Pedro Namikaze. Pedro's eye looked different, just like it did during the bug's extraction. Yoninke was looking straight at it. Before the monkey could talk, Pedro closed his sharingan and Yoninke saw they were back at the stone's underground passage.

"What happened Yoninke?" asked Pedro.

"What do you mean!? You took us to the training plains for five minutes and then back here. We don't have time for games Namikaze!"

It was incredible and it had worked. Pedro tested Tsukuyomi on Yoninke during the blink of an eye—for less than half a second—and Yoninke perceived that he was there for much longer, even though no one moved him and, in reality, nothing happened. Tsukuyomi created reality for the one affected by it… it made Pedro Namikaze wonder if Maida Uchiha knew about these things at all. She wouldn't have done such a thing to him though, and he always trusted her. It was a frightening power and the same power that Zet and Su wanted to use on the whole Human Realm. They would create a human world where everyone was very happy, but under their rule and control, at the same time…

When Yoninke and Pedro went back to the surface, Yoninke was in a hurry to leave. He was ready to return. Pedro was not in his best condition, due to the sharingan's use, but he was an earth sage, so he could handle it. He just had to limit the use of his sharingan in battle to a last resort.

Pedro began to scan areas of the Royal Valley to pick a convenient place for their return.

"Namikaze you are delaying us. Just pick the first safe spot you see. There is nothing worse for a mighty ninja than to sit around without taking action!"

After seeing the unknown man and learning Tsukuyomi, Pedro Namikaze understood why that way of thinking was not a smart path.

"Yoninke, there is nothing worse for a mighty ninja than taking action without thinking. In the worst scenario, it guarantees death. If we rush this, we will be killed and the Royal Tribe will be destroyed. We must plan this fast, but carefully as well."

Yoninke didn't say anything else. Deep down, he knew that Pedro was right. (Sometimes, Yoninke sounded foolish with his "gorilla ninja" blabber, but he definitely wasn't a stupid monkey at all.)

Then, the sharingan's view of the Earth Realm—through the special seal and the Earth Realm's summoning seal—revealed a worrisome scenario at the top of the white earth mountain, where Team Namikaze had most of its training:

Sarzan was tied up on the only tree standing at the top of the mountain. Four monkeys that were about four feet tall were interrogating him. They went back a few feet and launched four different elemental jutsus at him.

(These four were Dormon's elites, four highly trained monkeys that were excellent users of four different elemental-jutsu styles. They were Dormon's personal guards. The female with the yellow headband was Lenya, the lighting-style user. She seemed very arrogant. She thought she was blessed for being one of the very few that used that style. The other three were males. Rosu was the wind-style user and had a white-headband. He looked like the type of monkey that would stab you in the back at any moment. Barion was hot-blooded and aggressive. He used a red headband and was a fire-style user. And Erion, the earth-style monkey ninja of the group, used a brown headband and was watching everything at all times. They all had clothes similar to Enma's—denoting they were elites—but with darker red and black colors.)

They were trying to get some information from Sarzan before they executed him. He was one of the king's sons—just like Dormon—so he surely had some idea of where the remaining elites from the Royal Valley were hiding.

Pedro told Yoninke about it and Yoninke had an eerie realization:

"We have to go save Sarzan! The one wearing the red headband was the leader of the squad that caught me for a while. I escaped, but I had to fight him and his squad. He is the one that managed to give me the cut on the head and the other wounds. He is good with fire techniques and with twin swords, like me!"

Yoninke touched the healed cut on his head and got all fired up:

"That villain! I will leave him bald for messing up my gorilla haicut!"

Pedro looked back at the scene and it became clear that they couldn't miss another second. He did not have time to reach sage mode before going back. They had to leave right away!

Barion and Rosu grabbed a sword and it looked like they were about to decapitate Sarzan!

"Let's go Yoninke! We will save Sarzan and show those four what Team Namikaze can do! I will teleport us right in front of them. Get ready!"

"Summoning jutsu!"

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Versus the Elites


	27. Chapter 27: Versus the Elites

**CHAPTER 27: Versus the Elites**

Pedro Namikaze and Yoninke appeared at the mountain of white earth, right in front of Barion, the fire-style user, and Rosu, the wind-style user. In fact, they landed with a kick on Barion and Rosu's faces. The elites never saw that coming. (No one would have seen that coming.)

Rosu dropped his sword as soon as the human kicked his face. It came out of nowhere! Pedro went to free Sarzan from the tree as soon as he noticed that Rosu was not going to recover right away. He also saw how Yoninke landed on the fire-style user as well. Neither of those two would get in the way to free Sarzan.

Yoninke didn't waste a second and caught Barion completely unguarded. Barion didn't let go of his sword like Rosu did, but by the time he was aware of what happened, he was a few seconds late to stop Yoninke's next move. Yoninke didn't even waste time unsheathing his second twin blade. He just reached for Rosu's sword, which landed close to him, and used that plus his first twin blade to deliver two mighty slashes. With his first slash, he sliced Barion's long hair close to his head, and with the second one (using Rosu's sword), he cut the fire user's pants, which fell down right away. Barion was left in underwear and in a very ridiculous and embarrassing sight. The "elite" monkey had white underwear that said "hottest thing in the Earth Realm" with pink and red letters. Leya and the others were never going to see him as the group's "tough" one after that—he thought.

"That's what you get for messing up my gorilla haircut!" yelled Yoninke.

Then, Yoninke looked at his side and threw Rosu's sword very fast—like a spear—at Erion, who was about to use an earth-based jutsu on him. That threw Erion out of balance; he had to stop his technique and drop to the ground; otherwise, he would have lost his head.

Pedro reached the tree where Sarzan was tied, but the rope was strong, it would not break easily.

"Hold on! I will get you out of here!"

(Sarzan was not in good condition, but at least, his state wasn't even half as bad as Yoninke's had been, when The Leaf's medical ninjas saved him.)

"Watch out! She is the most dangerous of the four!" yelled Sarzan, looking ahead.

Pedro turned around, he had not been able to free Sarzan yet. The lighting-style ninja female was standing there.

"You must be the human that was trained by King Enma. You are as foolish as him for thinking that you stand a chance against us. None of you is powerful enough to defeat Dormon. And you do not belong in this realm."

She looked ready to attack them. Clearly, he had to get past her to free Sarzan…

"This is as far as you and your team will go. I will take care of the other two as well," said Leya.

She began to prepare a powerful lighting-style technique. Pedro Namikaze wasn't making any move. He knew how these jutsus worked after two years of seeing many from Yashiro, during sage training.

"Pedro, what are you doing!? Move out! She is going to attack!"

Sarzan didn't know what Pedro had in mind. Pedro knew that a major disadvantage of lighting-style techniques was that the caster could not stop them once they were close to using them. He would use her powerful attack against her. He also knew that his earth technique was faster.

"Lighting-style electric field jutsu!"

"Earth-shell jutsu!"

She began to form a powerful electric barrier with high voltage that would electrocute anyone, but right before she could finish it and launch it at them, the ground that was closest to her rose from all sides around her; it closed with her inside, forming a small and strong earth shell around her. Then, something exploded inside the shell—and we know what it was.

The shell broke apart and Leya fell down; she looked burned and beaten up. She couldn't stop her lighting technique when she realized what would happen…

It looked like she was almost out of the clash in that condition. She couldn't even get up right away.

"Never underestimate others that you don't know anything about," said Pedro Namikaze, as he turned back to free Sarzan. This wasn't the end of Leya though…

Pedro used his two only explosive knives on the sides of the tree where the thick rope was holding Sarzan. He was careful to ensure that Sarzan would not be hurt by them. Then, he used his sword at full speed to cut the left side, which had just some of it left after the explosion. His slash was not enough to cut it completely, but help was on the way. Yoninke's slash came right after that and finished what Pedro started. The rope fell down and Sarzan was free. All three of them were side by side.

When they looked back, Dormon's four elites—Barion, Rosu, Leya, and Erion—were back on their feet and quite mad because of what two strangers had been able to do to them in just one minute. The real battle was about to get started.

Pedro said something to Sarzan and Yoninke. The others didn't hear it, but Team Namikaze knew what it meant:

"We are at the White Earth Mountain… let's fight them going down."

Yoninke and Sarzan knew what to do…

The elites went all out at the mountain's peak:

"Grand-ape blaze!" yelled Barion, still in his ridiculous underwear.

(He had no other choice than to fight with that on during the whole battle.)

"Gorilla-tornado!"

Rosu used a jutsu that was similar to the Human Realm's tornado and aimed it at the tree where Team Namikaze was standing.

"Earth-shaper! Earth lances fall on them!"

Erion was easily as good as Sarzan for earth-style techniques.

"Lighting-style! Electric harpoon!"

Leya made a spear of high-voltage electricity and launched it at them at full speed!

Yoninke, Sarzan, and Pedro Namikaze were fast to get out of there and into the top of the mile-long slide of white earth going from the white peak to the bottom of the mountain. The big tree was left in pure ashes after the four elemental techniques hit it at the same time.

"Catch us if you can fools! Mighty gorilla Yoninke is too fast for you to handle!"

Yoninke sounded like he was playing with them.

Barion was furious:

"How dare you, you midget monkey! You are going to taste my fire's fury!"

Despite his deep threatening voice, no one was taking Barion seriously with that underwear on him…

Team Namikaze jumped into the grounds that they knew like the palm of their hands. They had trained going down from there hundreds of times. And at the bottom, they were used to fighting King Enma, a powerful opponent for sure. They knew every tree, every rock, and every single change on the terrain along that huge natural slide of white earth. (It was definitely the worst place for a battle against them…)

The elites went after them down the slide. All four of them barely paid any attention to the slide or to what was coming. Their main and only focus were the two monkeys and the human. However, they were letting their emotions do the thinking. Leya was after Pedro Namikaze. Barion and Erion were after Yoninke. Rosu was the only one after Sarzan, but he had an eye on the human too.

It was hard to defend and attack on that inclined slide. The elites had to do one or the other. However, Team Namikaze was doing both at once. Sarzan, Yoninke, and Pedro were moving on that difficult slide as if it was child's play. The elites were furious at their inability to stop them, so they went all out on the slide as well, with their most powerful jutsus. That happened when the most difficult part of the slide was arriving, but the elites didn't know about that. All four of them hit many trees and rocks along the way. They were also caught unprepared by sudden changes and falls on the inclined slide, but nothing surprised the other three.

Halfway down the slide when Yoninke and Pedro were very close, Leya directed an electric explosion at them and Barion did his ape-inferno blaze jutsu aimed at Yoninke. At the same time, Erion was about to attack Sarzan with two earth swords. Then, something unexpected happened:

When Barion and Leya began to use their powerful techniques, and before Erion reached Sarzan, Yoninke and Pedro moved very fast towards Erion and disarmed him with their combined attack. Next, Sarzan used earth-hold, grabbed Erion, and put him right where Pedro and Yoninke were. Then, Erion was the one hit head on by the electric blast and the wild blaze. He looked like fried monkey after that and was left behind. He had been finished by the attacks of his own group.

The other three became more dangerous after they noticed what Team Namikaze did.

Next, Leya saw her chance to get the human. Rosu got into a brief sword clash with him and she launched several electric spheres towards the human. She knew that there was no way to dodge all of them. They weren't as powerful as her other techniques, but it was electricity nonetheless. As expected, all of them missed expect one. Pedro dodged several, but one hit him. She expected that Rosu would finish him after that, since that would stun him for a while. However, the human used the double earth-shoot technique on her and Rosu simultaneously. The two spires he sent at them almost hit both of them!

"How? How could you move after that!?" screamed Leya in disbelief.

She didn't know that he had been hit with those by Yashiro, until he lost count of them. He had experienced lighting-style attacks like that one many times during sage training. The feeling was not new at all, so he could move faster than most after that.

Leya lost her composure and prepared her most lethal technique, the lighting arrow. However, Yoninke hit her with one of his two swords on the arm that she was using to aim. Yoninke knew that he wouldn't reach her before she shot the arrow at Pedro Namikaze, so he threw his sword at her, like an axe, and he did not miss. The arrow missed completely, but the human and Yoninke were now very close and busy with Barion and Rosu, so Leya saw this as her new best chance. She didn't really care if she electrocuted her two comrades as well, as long as she could take out the human and Yoninke. That was all she needed for her victory.

"Electric field jutsu!"

She made it even larger than the one she did at the top of the mountain. She missed an important detail though…

"Earth-shell jutsu!" yelled Sarzan, as he engulfed her with a shell of earth that was even stronger than the one Pedro Namikaze used before. He was right behind her, but she was too focused on the other two to notice him.

An explosion from within the shell cracked it and broke it. Leya fell down after that and she didn't get up again. Rosu and Barion saw the broken shell of earth had blood on its walls. It was over for Leya… and it was about to be over for the mountain's slide as well. They could see the bottom of the mountain very close from there.

"This is it! We will finish you now that this slide is over! My wind and Barion's fire are stronger; you can't win on flat ground!"

Rosu was mad. He secretly liked Leya, so this became personal for him after he saw that. It was too bad that he didn't know anything about Team Namikaze. He didn't know that they were always ready for the worst part when the slide ended, and this time was not an exception.

Sarzan screamed at Rosu:

"Your feet! They are burning up! There is a yellow blaze on them!"

Sarzan's face looked genuinely terrified, so naturally, Rosu's immediate instinct was to look down at his feet, right before he landed on the bottom of the White Mountain. This never worked well with Enma because he knew that his youngest son was a liar, but Rosu didn't know about Sarzan's acting skills, so he was fooled. He even felt a sense of urgency when he saw Sarzan's face. When he looked back up, Sarzan, Yoninke, and Pedro attacked him at the same time from different sides. Then, they jumped back and all three used the earth-shot technique immediately. Rosu had been caught off guard since the beginning. First the three slashes came and then the earth spires… and one of the spires stayed in him, just like a real gunshot. He couldn't get up after that.

Only Barion reached the end of the slide. The other three were defeated on the way down. And Team Namikaze didn't receive any serious wounds. In fact, they were ready to go all out at the bottom, as they always did in their training. Barion still had the ridiculous underwear on, but that was the last of his worries. He knew this was everything or nothing for him.

They fought with Barion just as they did with the king. They didn't give him any chance to use high-level techniques. They were so well-coordinated that it was hard to escape all their combined maneuvers. Every move that each one made was either followed by or part of some attack in unison. Barion simply couldn't keep up with them. At the end, he was defeated like the others.

Sarzan lifted Barion with a hand of earth and he stayed there trapped. He was exhausted and he realized that being trapped was better than getting killed. However, his ego, as a fire-style elite, had taken a severe beating, so his attitude was still as aggressive as ever—especially after what Yoninke did…

Yoninke jumped on the hand of earth and he cut Barion's remaining chunk of hair.

"This is what you get for messing up Yoninke's gorilla haircut. It will be two months before I can get a new one."

And Yoninke wasn't like Sarzan; he was really serious about these things—to the point that it would make you laugh because it wasn't a joke for him (he meant it, gorilla-style!).

Barion was fed up with this little monkey ninja that had left him bald and caught him unprepared more than once. He didn't like the other two either:

"Curse you! You idiots! Do you really think you can do anything!? You may have beaten us, but you don't stand a chance against Dormon and his army. The Royal Valley has fallen already. It is too late for you! After Enma is executed, you three and all the others will follow!"

When Sarzan heard those words, he made the hand of earth squeeze Barion, until the rogue elite could barely breathe.

"We can't stay here. We have to go back to the Royal Tribe. The others will be executed tomorrow. There is no time!"

Sarzan sounded very worried. He even began to walk back to the Royal Tribe after he said that. Soon after that, he collapsed. He was the one in the worst condition of the three because he was beaten by the elites in the interrogation, after they caught him at the other side of the mountain, which didn't have a slide. Sarzan didn't have lethal wounds, but he wasn't in good shape for another battle after this one. The situation was pretty extreme however…

Yoninke helped Sarzan to get back up.

"Sarzan, tell us what happened at the Royal Tribe," asked Pedro.

Sarzan's face showed worry:

"It was an invasion against us… Dormon united all the other tribes and they follow him now. He plans to execute father Enma and all the elites from the Royal Tribe. Then, he will be the new king. He and the rogue tribes will do the execution tomorrow at the large earth stadium that our tribe built. That is what I heard them say… I know brother Em and father will be among the ones that will be executed there…we must go. We have to go and help them!"

Pedro Namikaze was more conscious about the reality of their situation though:

"Sarzan, we can't go and walk straight into enemy lines like this. We cannot defeat a whole army. However, we will go and we will be there by tomorrow. It has to be undercover. We must avoid being caught at all costs. Our goal must be to free the other elites and to avoid all confrontations, until we can see the situation clearly. Then, we can see how to stop Dormon. We don't even know how things really are at the tribe. We must find out about it first. Then, we can proceed accordingly."

"He is right," added Yoninke.

Then, Yoninke continued:

"Sarzan, I have an idea. What color of ninja clothes were the invader monkeys wearing? Did they look like us?"

"They have the same clothes as these four we fought, but no headbands, only their elites have headbands. And yes, most of them were monkeys like us. Few were big apes like brother and father."

"Then, let's take the clothes of the fire elite and the wind monkey. We can use them to make it look like we are two of them. That won't work for Namikaze though."

Sarzan and Pedro were surprised. It looked like Yoninke's head had more inside than just mighty ninjas and gorillas. They chose to follow his idea. It was the best choice they had; and that way, only one of them would have to avoid all contact with enemy monkeys.

They got the ninja clothes that Barion and Rosu had and left the two elites trapped. Barion was left there just with his underwear. He was still mad at what happened:

"You three won't make it alive! No one can beat sage Dormon! He even defeated all the other tribe leaders!"

"So that is how he gained control, by force…" whispered Pedro Namikaze, who was starting to make a mental profile of the main enemy.

"Team Namikaze has a sage and two mighty ninjas from the Royal Tribe. We will make it," replied Yoninke.

"You three don't get it, do you?! Some of the other leaders were sages too! They still couldn't beat him!"

They ignored Barion and left him there. Then, they went to the Royal Tribe, taking a different route than the main one.

(Sarzan and Yoninke were using Barion and Rosu's shirts.)

Pedro Namikaze already knew that fighting Dormon head on wasn't wise, even for Team Namikaze at its best—and they were not at their best after fighting the elites. They had to find out the situation and they had to see him before anything happened. Furthermore, his earth sage mode would be absolutely necessary if they wanted to stand a chance against such an enemy. Mr. Namikaze began to think about everything on their way there. He was young, but he had the mind of a ninja strategist…

It was time for an undercover assault on the villain Dormon.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Undercover Assault


	28. Chapter 28: Undercover Assault

**CHAPTER 28: Undercover Assault**

They approached the Royal Tribe with plenty of caution. It took them much longer to advance while hiding, but getting caught could raise an alarm, so it had to be avoided at all costs.

At first, Yoninke and Sarzan planned to mix themselves with the invaders and to act as if they belonged with them, but soon they were going to find out that it wasn't going to be so easy. The one that knew he had to avoid all contact with enemy eyes was Pedro Namikaze. They expected a lot of difficulty just to get anywhere close to the Royal Tribe; however, it turned out to be much different than their expectations.

Soon, they realized that there was no one guarding their large village. It seemed like a trap at first sight, but it was not. Dormon's forces were not there anymore. They were at the huge earth coliseum, or the Earth Stadium, which was at the other side of the village, about 40 meters beyond the last small houses there. Everything was going to happen at that stadium…

Since the entrance, Yoninke, Sarzan, and Pedro saw dead monkeys and apes on the ground everywhere. It was a terrible sight for Sarzan and Yoninke because they could recognize many of those faces. For Pedro Namikaze, it was strinkingly reminiscent of what happened at Maida's village. Those were some of his worst memories and these sights brought them back to him as if it was happening all over again. It was like opening an old scar on the same place where it happened before.

Yoninke also felt very worried when he saw his little house was destroyed and there was no sign of his crazy father anywhere. For the first time in years, he really wished his decrepit father was there, even if the old monkey was going to criticize him, as he always did.

The tragedy was very recent because it was obvious that many monkeys had not been dead for more than 20 hours—that was the length of one day at the Earth Realm; night and day were shorter there.

As they advanced, voices could be heard from far away. They began to realize that the whole village was left desolate of life, with just the bodies of almost half of the tribe's habitants. They had fought bravely to protect their home, but the Royal Tribe was not enough to defeat all the other tribes…

The voices they heard were not coming from the village; they came from the Royal Earth Stadium, which was half a mile away. Something big was happening there for sure…

Besides, not everyone was dead and the rest had to be somewhere. Maybe there was an ongoing battle at the stadium; or maybe there was something else there…

"Let's hurry! That is where they were planning to execute the others! Father and Em must be there!"

Sarzan was agitated and Yoninke was the same way. Pedro Namikaze also felt uneasy for a while. Last time this happened, he had been defeated by the powerful rogue ninja Zet Otsutsuki, right after seeing similar sights of death with humans. (He didn't remember what really happened. In reality, he had been killed as well, but Maida's mangekyou sharingan and her unique ability saved him.) This time, it could not repeat itself no matter what. He was an earth sage now, but still, an enemy powerful enough to take over the Royal Valley could not be underestimated. They had to act carefully and think. Otherwise, their chances were pretty slim, even with the power of a sage.

"The closer we get to it, the more careful we have to be. Let's approach the stadium as we approached the village," suggested Pedro.

Sarzan listened, but Yoninke couldn't approach this with such calmness (he wanted to go rogue on them after what he saw; he certainly couldn't play undercover guard anymore after what he had seen at the village).

When they reached the stadium what was happening was revealed to them…

Dormon's tribes had put hundreds of large wooden bars over the huge sitting areas at the stadium. They were being used as giant cells to keep the rest of the Royal Tribe imprisoned. There were many young monkeys (children), females, and other members of the village that were not among the elite ninjas. The elites from the Royal Valley that had not been killed already were tied up on pillars of wood. The pillars were standing at the edges of the massive open field of earth that was the inner stadium; it was quite visible from the giant cells. Everyone—from the prisoners of the Royal Tribe to the hundreds of rogue monkeys from the other tribes—would see what was going to happen there.

Em and Enma were among the twelve elite survivors trapped on the pillars. They were close enough to talk, but they couldn't do anything to stop what was going to happen. Yashiro was also among the elites that were caught. They were tied with special ropes that didn't allow the gathering of sage chakra, so Em and Enma couldn't use their sage mode. They couldn't use their hands either, so using jutsu techniques was out of the question as well.

Dormon was at the center of the massive field, ready to begin the short speech where he would reveal his plan for his father's tribe, for the Royal Valley, and for the Earth Realm itself.

He was a big ape like Enma, but much younger. He was wearing dark yellow ninja clothes. The dark yellow color on his clothing was very visible to all at the great Earth Stadium of the Royal Valley. He had a beard like Enma, but his hair was very black, rather than white. His eyes had dark yellow pupils—just like the ninja clothes—that made him look like a cursed ape (that eye color was super rare at their world).

Perhaps, the most important thing to mention about him was not how he looked, but how he was…

Dormon's confidence was absolute because he knew how powerful he was. He had already defeated all the other tribe leaders of his world. He feared nothing. Power and control were what he valued the most; and being the absolute king and ruler at the Earth Realm was his greatest wish. He was an earth sage and a master of the two most useful types of elemental techniques at the Earth Realm—the earth-style and the wood-style. (One could manipulate the vast amounts of earth everywhere and the other could control the growth and movement of plants and wooden trees. The earth-style was faster, but wood-style techniques were powerful and certainly more dangerous.)

You could say that Dormon's only weaknesses were that he was mortal and overconfident—this second trait can be a double-edged sword; it can also lead to making the wrong choices because you think your failure is impossible…

The worst part, however, was that Dormon was heartless and he only cared about fulfilling his wishes. (Unfortunately, he was also good at manipulating others, so he convinced the rogue tribes about taking over the Royal Valley.)

Em and King Enma were feeling terrible. Em was the only one who managed to fight Dormon directly during the invasion, but he was defeated by his older brother. Neither of them had enough time to use their sage modes, but chances were that if Dormon was more powerful than Em without sage mode, then he also surpassed him as an earth sage. Em was captured by Dormon after their battle. King Enma was caught at the largest battle at the center of the Royal Tribe. He was more powerful than the invaders, but there were too many, and they had been taught to hate the Royal Valley and its king, so Enma was their main target from the start. They knew they had to keep him alive though…

Em was feeling pretty bad. He couldn't forgive himself. If he had succeeded against Dormon, may be his tribe would not be on the edge of destruction:

"Father, I am sorry… if I had managed to beat him, we wouldn't be in this state. Our tribe and our friends wouldn't have been killed. If I had been stronger, maybe, this could have been stopped…"

Em's voice was full of regret. He was almost on the verge of tears, which was not a normal thing for someone strong like him.

Enma was pretty serious and also had plenty of scars from his battle. He seemed stronger-minded than Em, but the truth was that he was also devastated inside. If there was someone at that stadium that truly knew what regret was, that someone was the king.

He looked at Em:

"Son, don't be sorry for anything you did or did not do. I am the one that has to feel that way. If everything ends, or even if it doesn't, I hope you can forgive me. You always felt that way about Dormon, since you were little. You knew who he really was. You warned me a hundred times and I never listened. I didn't want to execute the criminal that was my own son. I sent him into exile, and even though I knew that he was causing chaos outside, I never did anything to stop him. I put my own interests before our tribe's best interests. I don't deserve to be the king. A true king would always put his tribe before himself. You are younger, but you always knew what was best for our tribe. You would make a better king than me."

The monkey king and his tribe had been defeated, and this was his darkest hour, but he still had one thing to fight for:

"I am glad that both you and Sarzan are still alive. I am glad that Sarzan and Yoninke managed to escape… Em. Listen. If you have the chance to escape, do it. Don't hesitate and don't worry about me. I will stay here and face my demons no matter what, but you two shouldn't pay for my mistakes. I wish our tribe didn't have to pay for my mistakes, but it is too late now."

Em's sad state changed when he heard those words from his father. At the end of the day, Enma was right; Em did care more about the tribe than about himself:

"Father! What are you saying!? I would never leave you and the others here! We have to fight Dormon and defeat him somehow. Half of the Royal Tribe is still alive in those giant cells. We must save them!"

Enma lost his fatherly patience and returned to his usual self:

"You fool! I know how you think, but look at us! We can't beat him and his army like this! If we are all killed, it is the true end for the Royal Tribe. You must escape and survive!"

"What about Sarzan, Yoninke, and the Namikaze guy, the human. Their team wasn't caught father. They must be around here. We still have a chance."

"I don't think they would do that. They are the best team I ever trained and Namikaze is a great earth sage, but even they would know that fighting here is not the best choice."

At least, there was some hope for Em:

"Sarzan, that little liar. I wish I could see his face now."

Enma, on the other hand, thought that it was too late for them already.

At that moment, Dormon began his speech at the center of the Earth Stadium:

"Today, we are going to make history for our kind at the Earth Realm…"

Meanwhile, Team Namikaze had already reached the stadium. They saw how the rest of the Royal Tribe was being kept like animals in giant wood cells that surrounded the stadium. The whole place was heavily guarded by hundreds of monkeys from Dormon's tribes. It didn't look like there was any way to get in without a serious confrontation. Apparently, someone was also talking pretty loud from inside the stadium, but they couldn't hear his words clearly. It was obvious, however, that the one giving the speech inside had to be Dormon, the leader.

After seeing the massacre at the village and the sight from the stadium, Yoninke was ready to raise hell:

"This is it! Mighty ninja Yoninke is going to make heads roll! I will open the way. They will see what an elite gorilla can do!"

Yoninke was pretty serious, so Pedro and Sarzan had to stop him. They were lucky that no one saw them. They grabbed him and Pedro gave him a quick reality check:

"Shhhhhhhh! Quiet Yoninke! If we get caught now our heads are the ones that will roll. Save all that rage for when we get to Dormon. Believe me, we want to see him pay too, but we have to do this right. There are only three of us and there are hundreds of them. We can't win if we don't approach this with intelligence and a plan."

Sarzan agreed and added something important:

"Guys, I know another way to enter the Earth Stadium. There is a secret tunnel that only the royal family knows about. I never entered it, so I don't know what it is like, but I know where one of its entrances is at. I also know it is the one that leads to the stadium. It is underground, so that tunnel should take us to the inside of the stadium."

"Great! Why didn't you say that before?!"

Yoninke was still in a battle-ready mood with his twin swords on his hands.

"Let's go, we will follow you Sarzan," said Pedro.

The tunnel's entrance was not visible from the stadium, but it was not far from it. The place was close to the group of wooden houses that were closest to the stadium. However, it wasn't a secret anymore because one of the enemy monkeys was guarding the entrance.

"Now is the time Yoninke," suggested Pedro Namikaze, when he realized that there was no safer way to get into the stadium (and the enemy guard wasn't going to move either).

Yoninke jumped from the roof where they were to the tree directly above the entrance. The guard saw him, but Yoninke was pretty fast, so by the time the guard reached for his sword it was already over. Yoninke didn't stay on the tree above, he only used it as the spot where he landed for half a second, before using his dual blade spinning attack on the guard.

(This reminds me of Attack on Titan. Those of you that watched that anime will understand why.)

The tunnel had little light, so it was dark. And it was wet too; the ground there was like the earth close to a river; it probably had a water source nearby. They were careful, but they still had to take care of three more guards that they found inside the tunnel. Eventually, they reached a place that had five different routes to continue. Sarzan and Yoninke were thinking about taking a route at random, but Pedro knew a better way:

"Wait, we can't do this based on luck. There is a better way to know what is the route that will take us where we want to go for sure."

Pedro Namikaze turned around.

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

Five shadow clones that looked like him appeared. This was the ideal technique to handle the situation because he would know what the clones knew, if they were beaten or if he—or they—cancelled the technique. One of them would give him the knowledge about the best route to take…

Three of the clones reached areas that had exits within the giant cells. All three were spotted and attacked by rogue guards at those places. They disappeared and Pedro knew about it as soon as it happened. One of the other two reached a blocked path with no exit. Finally, the last one continued until he arrived at a place that was directly underneath the central area of the Earth Stadium. The stadium's ground was part of the ceiling at that underground location. From there, the clone could also hear Dormon's voice as he gave his speech. The last two clones released themselves on their own, so Pedro Namikaze knew about this soon after.

Team Namikaze followed the right route and they reached the area under the stadium, which was below the front of where Dormon was standing giving his speech. (Directly above them was a spot inside the stadium that was just 15 meters away from Dormon, at the very center.)

They could understand what he was saying from there and they knew it was Dormon. Who else would be giving a speech at the center of the grand stadium in that situation?

They didn't hear the beginning of the speech, but after they reached that place, they heard every word, and Dormon's plan became clear to them:

"The current king and his Royal Tribe are turning our kind into a bunch of peaceful monkeys that have nothing to do with what we really are. We are warriors that have been chosen to rule over all the other species in this realm. The Royal Tribe's teachings go against our identity and our dignity as warrior apes; yet they are the true rulers of our world, while we live in the forests as if we were a different species than them.

If their tribe is eradicated we can be both, the rulers and the warriors that we always were. The strength of our kind will come back and we will be more powerful than ever. This disgrace will be erased!

Let me be your king. Let me be the one that will lead us all into a new age without the old Royal Tribe, which wasn't royal at all. Let's regain our dignity and take our rightful place at the center of our world!"

Dormon's tribes were guarding the cells, fighting anyone that tried to escape, and cheering loudly for their leader. They already knew what was coming. They were going to execute the elites from the Royal Valley. Then, they would set the giant wooden cells on fire, killing nearly everyone within them. They would become the rulers of the whole realm after that, and Dormon would be the new king.

Needless to say, they were savages that weren't very smart. That is why it wasn't too hard for Dormon to manipulate them into following his false promise of glory, bathed in blood and death. Moreover, they also feared him because they had seen him at his full power and he had killed their (already) fearsome leaders. They were a gargantuan threat for the Earth Realm, with Dormon at the center of it all.

The monkeys of Team Namikaze couldn't stay still knowing Dormon's plan of total annihilation for their tribe.

"You two open a hole on the ceiling with your earth techniques! I am going to cut that bastard's head off!"

Yoninke simply could not wait any longer. He was done hiding.

"Earth-strike!" yelled Sarzan as he punched the ceiling above them with a hand of earth.

It only made a couple of minor cracks on the ceiling though. They needed a far more powerful attack to make a path to the surface from there. Pedro also knew that the time for hiding was over. Dormon had to be stopped. However, they didn't stand a chance without their full power.

"I will turn into an earth sage. I am going to open the path for us," said Pedro Namikaze.

He made six shadow clones—the maximum that he could make—and sat down with them. All seven began to gather sage chakra. Despite the situation, he had to remain calm, otherwise it would not work. However, Dormon continued talking and he said something that truly affected Pedro because it reminded him of the small Namikaze village, where he was born, and of Maida's village, where he had met true love for the first time:

"Small tribes that stand in the way shall be destroyed by the powerful ones. Those little tribes were us many years ago and the mighty Royal Tribe used to persecute us, but now we have grown and we are the powerful ones. The Royal Tribe is in our way to be the masters of the Earth Realm, so we shall exterminate them, as they planned to do with us!"

Dormon's words reminded Pedro Namikaze of what happened at Maida's village. There were no true elites, or Anbu ninjas, at the village. Then, three uber powerful ninjas came seeking Maida's sharingans and they destroyed the whole village because it was in their way (and the villagers opposed them too). Pedro also remembered the old earth-style master that taught him and his lost brother what they knew when they were kids. He sent them away when the Third Great Ninja War started at the Human Realm because he knew that the small Namikaze clan could be destroyed… and indeed, it was. The old master was their grandfather…

Pedro Namikaze remembered all the good people from those two dear villages… what happened to them was going to happen in a much larger scale at the Earth Realm if Team Namikaze didn't stop Dormon there. Pedro Namikaze knew that his sage powers were the key to make it possible. And, after hearing Dormon's last words, he found a new strength:

He wasn't going to allow the story of the Namikaze Clan or of Maida's village to repeat itself ever again. Two times had been more than enough in his life. Even if it took his own life, he would stop the third one. (He clearly didn't remember that he had already died in the second one, but Maida saved him.)

He began to gather sage chakra faster than normal.

"Namikaze, what are you doing!? Slow down! Yashiro isn't here!"

Yoninke got worried when he saw that. (He and Sarzan couldn't save him if something went wrong.)

Then, three of the six clones disappeared and all of their sage chakra was transferred to Pedro Namikaze, who reached the earth sage mode in that instant. His pupils turned yellow and the skin around his eyes turned brown.

(The other three clones stayed there gathering sage chakra.)

Pedro didn't realize it, but he was just like Yoninke was before. He was going to go straight for Dormon. His feelings had been involved since Dormon reminded him about Maida, her village, his friends, and his grandfather…

"Sage-art earth strike!"

The strike of the hand of earth created by an earth sage was so powerful that it broke through the ceiling and opened a massive hole all the way through. It provoked a huge explosion at the stadium's surface and a great ruckus among the rogue tribes guarding the cells. It opened the ground not far from where Dormon was.

Sage Pedro walked and stopped right under the great hole he opened. Sarzan and Yoninke were going to go to that spot too, but he didn't give them enough time to get there:

"Sage-art earth-hold jutsu!"

Three earth hands grabbed them, held them tight, and raised them all the way up to the surface. These were not normal earth hands; they were the kind of advanced earth techniques that only the sage mode could create.

As soon as they landed on the surface, sage Pedro sealed the hole. It was like nothing to him, so Dormon quickly realized that the human was in sage mode.

Yoninke was caught off guard by the hand of earth and he made it known as soon as he landed at the stadium's surface:

"Is this how you stay quiet and avoid getting caught with intelligence?! You made fifty times more noise than me Namikaze!"

Sarzan was the one who responded:

"Shut up and get ready! It's time to save our tribe. It is now or never!"

Dormon was just fifteen meters away from them. His speech had been stopped abruptly.

"I won't let you destroy the smaller tribe that is home to this realm's true king," said sage Pedro.

Dormon was as big as Enma, but he was younger. He was strong and confident. In many ways, he looked like the savages that he led, but he was smart too, and his response made it clear:

"True king? Do all of you not see it now!? The king of the Royal Tribe, the one that once hated humans, has gone so low that he taught the earth sage mode to a human, rather than to one of his own kind! They can't destroy our dignity any further! It is time to replace this false king!"

That statement made anyone that didn't know the king well question whether the king wasn't really as great as they thought. Dormon's words raised some doubts on many, even among the monkeys from the Royal Tribe. However, something else grabbed everyone's attention:

Everyone noticed the human and the two monkeys that appeared close to Dormon after the explosion. Enma was shocked—he certainly wasn't expecting that—but deep down he was also glad. He believed that Team Namikaze had a chance; he knew how good they were because they had managed to beat him, even before Pedro Namikaze became a sage.

Em knew it too. They were there!

The rogue tribes were confused though. The two monkeys had the same clothes as King Dormon's elites.

Sarzan and Yoninke threw out the "elite" uniforms. Yoninke revealed his trusty twin blades and confronted Dormon:

"You are the only false king here! Mighty gorilla Yoninke is going to teach you a lesson you won't forget!"

Dormon began to laugh.

"King Enma's elites are a bunch of comedians. It is no wonder why their tribe was defeated so easily. I will be the one that will be teaching you lessons today!"

Yoninke's father got to see what was happening from one of the wooden cells. He almost got a heart attack when he saw that his son was pointing his swords at the warlord. That fool had not changed! (As usual, he had him worried sick!)

Dormon made a gesture and, with his signal, hundreds of monkeys from his tribes left their positions and charged towards the three near him. (This was why no one other than Em managed to fight him directly before. He also had the protection of the tribes.)

Sarzan and Yoninke were ready, but this definitely wasn't a good sight. Sage Pedro used the best technique to deal with the situation:

"Sage-art earthquake jutsu!"

The earthquake didn't affect the spot where he, Sarzan, and Yoninke were, but it shook everything else vigorously. Cracks on the ground appeared in several parts of the stadium and one of the giant wooden cells broke, initiating a battle between the ones inside and the rogue guards. The rogue monkeys that were coming after Team Namikaze got extremelly scared and stayed still, without advancing any further, or ran back. This mighty power was far too similar to Dormon's, and what they saw from Dormon was quite frightening. If the human had that same power, then they knew they didn't stand a chance.

Right after the earthquake stopped, four familiar faces appeared from the only open entrance at the Earth Stadium. The guards outside allowed them to enter without asking questions because they knew who they were, but they were in a truly sorry state.

Dormon's elites had arrived. Two of them were almost naked and all four looked beaten up. They walked, with difficulty, all the way to the center of the place, where Dormon was.

Team Namikaze was surprised. Those four were much tougher than they thought if they could still get there after their battle. However, Dormon was more surprised. He wasn't used to seeing his elites beaten:

"What happened?! Who did this to you!?"

Leya answered:

"Those three right there did it. We knew they would come for you, so we came to warn you, but I see they got here before us. My king, do not take them lightly, they are more skilled than they look."

Dormon got furious:

"You mean that all four of you were beaten by them!? I am going to have to pick new elites for my new kingdom!"

The elites looked disappointed. They had done a lot for Dormon and he was ready to throw them out like this because they lost just one battle. (To give you an idea of the things they had done for him, let's just say that Leya slept with him and the other three killed monkeys from the tribes when he asked them to do it.)

Then, Dormon got a better idea and decided to use his elites once again:

"It's actually a good thing that you are here now. Turn into your weaponized forms, all four of you."

Erion complained:

"King, we are not in the best shape for…"

However, Dormon interrupted him:

"Do it now! I am going to demonstrate to everyone here what their new king can do, just like I did before I conquered every tribe. I will destroy their champions and their hope, without even using my sage mode. They defeated you, so you should be glad that I will use you four to finish them here."

Erion wasn't sure about it because he knew the weaponized forms were not going to last a long time in their current state. However, the other three liked it. They were going to finish the human and the two monkeys, or rather, Dormon was going to use them to do it.

Leya grabbed Dormon's arm. She became a thick bracelet that was engulfed with the power of lighting.

"My king, destroy them with my power," said the bracelet.

Erion became a light and strong body armor, just like Sarzan.

"I will protect you my king," said the armor.

Rosu and Barion stood side by side.

Rosu became a silver sword with the power of the wild gusts of a tornado. Barion became a red blade with the power of lethal fire. Dormon walked towards the swords, grabbed one with each hand, and united them. They merged into a fierce-looking sword that was silver on the left side and red on the right. It looked like the silver side was surrounded by wind and the other side was covered with fire.

Team Namikaze was ready too.

"Let's fight him as one," suggested sage Pedro.

It had been a while since they had done it, but this was definitely the union of one of the best teams at the Royal Valley: the human earth sage with armor Sarzan and the mighty Yoninke sword.

Dormon was still quite confident though:

"You human sage have given me the perfect chance to demonstrate my dominance once again. I will defeat a sage without even using the sage mode myself. Then, my foolish father will follow with the rest of his elites. I will be the new king of the Royal Valley and of the entire Earth Realm very soon. And no one will dare to oppose me after my demonstration of power with you."

The elites were completely quiet. They were Dormon's tools for battle.

Sarzan and Yoninke, on the other hand, were Pedro Namikaze's companions.

At that moment, the battle with Dormon began…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Team Namikaze vs. Dormon


	29. Chapter 29: Team Namikaze versus Dormon

**CHAPTER 29: Team Namikaze vs. Dormon**

Dormon was certain that the human's sage mode was nowhere near as powerful as his, but it was sage mode, nonetheless…

He knew he had to handle the earth sage fast, or else it could become a problem, even for him.

Therefore, he didn't wait. From the start, Dormon attacked them aggressively:

"Forest growth jutsu!"

Many trees began to grow around sage Pedro. Their incredibly accelerated growth was clearly directed towards him. Other trees began to grow under Dormon as well, giving him a quick advantage over Team Namikaze. He quickly jumped on the trees to continue his offense from higher ground.

Sage Pedro realized that he couldn't dodge or avoid all the plants and trees that Dormon summoned. They were growing everywhere around him. (They resembled the First Hokage's advanced techniques, which were extremely rare at the Human Realm. Dormon also had the ability to use similar techniques.)

"Namikaze, let me handle this!" ordered the Yoninke sword, after taking a look at their surroundings.

Sage Pedro used the mighty Yoninke sword against the large plants and trees that approached them. Yoninke's weaponized form was not a normal sword. For every slash that Pedro delivered with each swing of the sword, it executed five more slashes that had far more reach and power in them. Yoninke did that on his own because he could bend the blade, change its size and form, and attack, even if Pedro Namikaze was not moving. The Yoninke sword could move on its own as well. Its extended reach covered anything that was within four meters and its power was certainly high enough for it to cut through all those trees.

(The Yoninke sword was brown and silver. The way it looked in action and its shape were not like a straight line. Instead, it became a large curved blade that had far more reach and power. It resembled Zero's saber from Megaman X4 and Inuyasha's large blade from Inuyasha. I will post a picture of this in the story's FB page.)

The first wave of trees was stopped fairly quickly, but there was a second one coming with large trees only.

Sage Pedro held the Yoninke sword with both hands and Yoninke went all out:

"Gorilla combo!"

The sword's blade did more than 100 mighty slashes in thirty seconds and it totally devastated the second wave of trees. All the trees that approached went down. Pedro managed to hold that crazy sword only because he was in sage mode, there is no doubt about that…

Dormon didn't like seeing that. He expected the other two monkeys to be a waste of space. He thought this would be a battle versus the human earth sage only. However, he was still certain that his sword was more powerful, even if it could not bend itself and change shape and size like that. His sword had the power of two elites and the other sword was "just" a little monkey—obviously, he didn't know who was the little monkey…

Furthermore, he also had the lighting bracelet and the Erion armor…

Dormon wasn't on the ground anymore. He was on the trees that he raised where he was standing. From there, he used his sword's power:

"Gusts and blazes unite! Fire slash!"

With each swing of his sword, Dormon sent wide gusts covered with fire in that direction. The fast winds from the sword were quite destructive, like the ones in a tornado. The blazes were also a problem because the Yoninke sword could not stop wind and fire, but fire, in particular, could do plenty of damage to all of them, even in their weaponized forms.

Sage Pedro dodged the first two fast waves of fire and blocked the other two with an earth wall, which was dozens of times more powerful than the one he had used years ago in the battle versus the wind-style ninja Jounen.

Dormon was not liking what he was seeing. The human earth sage was faster than what he expected. He was almost as fast as himself in his perfect sage mode.

After sage Pedro raised the earth wall to block the blazes and winds that Dormon's sword sent his way, Dormon jumped and landed on the earth wall with his right fist. The punch was greatly magnified by the bracelet, which added a great surge of lighting to it. The lighting wave that accompanied Dormon's punch cracked the whole wall with just one strike.

Then, the two swords clashed as Dormon kept attacking. Yoninke didn't waste the chance; he did it again right after the third clash with Dormon's sword:

"Gorilla combo!"

It was then that armor Erion revealed its ability. Dormon's earth armor extended itself, changed its shape, and began to block all of Yoninke's slashes with a speed that matched Yoninke's. Basically, he had Yoninke's ability, but as an armor.

Dormon didn't get a single scratch. However, armor Erion could barely move after that.

Yoninke couldn't believe it, but he didn't stop after Erion thought that it was over:

"Mighty ninja slash!"

Dormon got a big surprise because Erion didn't block the ninja slash. However, Dormon reacted just in time to save himself from it. Erion was still too tired. He was not in good shape for a second battle with Team Namikaze. Dormon blocked the ninja slash with the bracelet and electrocuted the Yoninke sword with it.

Sage Pedro helped Yoninke right away. Quickly, he removed his sword from its sheath (which he had tied on his back) and he placed the Yoninke sword there. He also used the wind barrier jutsu, which was greatly magnified by his sage mode. He gained a great distance from Dormon.

"Yoninke are you ok!? I felt that shock and it didn't even reach me. Stay there now, I will take care of stopping him. Sage mode won't last forever; so we need to shorten this battle!"

"Namikaze wait!"

Yoninke had to tell him something important that he had noticed. However, sage Pedro was focused on getting back to Dormon and he didn't listen.

"Sage-art swords of nature!"

As he ran towards Dormon, sage Pedro raised dozens of earth swords along his path and they began to rush towards Dormon like a rain of arrows.

Dormon raised wooden walls of trees that covered him from the swords, which were falling around him nonstop. He came out of his natural shield and raised other trees, which he began to use as his advantage (he was a big monkey after all, so swinging on trees was on his favor). Sage Pedro had a difficult time to attack him head-on because of the long-range gusts of fire from his sword. However, little by little, Pedro Namikaze got closer and closer to Dormon.

When he saw a clear shot, he didn't hesitate:

"Sage-art earth booster!"

His sword and his arms, hands, and feet began to focus his natural sage chakra at those spots in order to deliver devastating close-range attacks.

"Sage-jutsu earth strike!"

Six powerful hands of earth came from the ground and went after Dormon from all sides: front, back, top, bottom, and even diagonally. Sage Pedro knew that Dormon had a chance to block or avoid most of them, but he was ready to get him right after that. As expected, Dormon blocked four of them with his trees and dodged the other two. Then sage Pedro threw his sword at him, right when he saw an opening.

Dormon was fast enough to stop it though, taking it down with his own sword. However, the earth around Pedro's sword, which was charged with sage chakra, provoked a sudden explosion. Dormon was not expecting it. (That was the first time that something actually landed on him. The rest had been blocked by his techniques or by Erion.)

Sage Pedro continued. This was his chance to end it!

Dormon wasn't expecting more after that. He didn't think that the human sage would go after him with hand-to-hand combat either (especially after seeing what his trees could do).

Sage Pedro aimed at Dormon's body with a kick, but Erion extended himself and blocked it. Unfortunately for Erion, it was the best chakra-charged kick from an earth sage, so even an armor like him felt that it was going to split him in half. Erion could not block the rest and a small crack appeared on Dormon's armor.

Pedro Namikaze followed it very quickly with a kick to the head from the other side, with his other leg. Dormon knew that if he allowed that to hit him, it was over for him; so he blocked it with the bracelet and aimed a lighting-charged strike at the human sage. The strike from Dormon's hand landed on Pedro's armor; and Sarzan absorbed most of the lightning damage, so sage Pedro was not stopped. Dormon's bracelet, on the other hand, showed a small crack on its surface. The crack was not there before. It appeared after blocking the earth sage's second kick.

Sage Pedro finished it with two chakra-charged punches. The first one was dodged, but he caught Dormon with the second and it sent Dormon flying to the other side of the Earth Stadium. It was a powerful attack without a doubt. Dormon even dropped his sword when he landed at the other side. The false king became truly furious. He knew the consequences of this. Everyone there had seen it. Now he had no other choice than to kill the human sage there. That was the only way to regain his "unbeatable" status in the minds of all the tribes.

The hundreds of rogue monkeys couldn't believe their eyes. The all-mighty King Dormon was having a difficult time against the other sage. The prisoners from the Royal Tribe also became fiercer in their battle with the rogue tribes. After seeing what happened to Dormon, they knew that winning against the invaders was possible, even if they were more powerful.

However, things were not golden for Team Namikaze either. Pedro Namikaze knew that his sage mode was not going to last much longer. Sarzan also took a critical hit from the bracelet's lighting attack:

"Pedro, I can't stay in armor form for much longer. If I get another hit like that, I won't just revert to normal, I think I won't be able to stand either."

Then, Yoninke interrupted:

"That is what I was trying to tell you before you rushed at Dormon! I felt how weak his weapons feel. I felt it when they stopped my slashes. Those guys won't be able to last much longer and they are what is making him more powerful. Without those weapons he can be beaten! He only has his wood-style techniques!"

Pedro Namikaze had a few seconds to think and he knew what to do then:

"I see what you mean Yoninke… Sarzan revert back!" said Pedro Namikaze, looking as if he knew exactly what he was doing.

"What?!"

Sarzan was puzzled.

"Revert back to your normal form. Then, Yoninke and I will break his weapons and you will be our backup. You will attack them and him too using your earth techniques, which are the best ones in our team."

"But what if he hits you with that lightning, you won't have the armor on!"

"Don't worry Sarzan, I am in sage mode, I can take it. But you may not be able to take it, even as an armor. If you fall, our team may fall too. One of us would have to protect you. And, my sage mode also has a limit. Doing this is the best chance we have now."

The sword on sage Pedro's back talked:

"That's it! Mighty Yoninke saves the day then!"

"Are you sure about this Pedro?" asked Sarzan, with a little bit of hesitation wandering around him.

"Yes, he doesn't care about them. The armor and the bracelet got a crack and he continued using them. He will cover himself with them without hesitation or concern for them. Yet, he is hard to beat as long as he has them. Let's focus on destroying his weapons first, and then on him!"

Sarzan's doubts vanished and he smiled:

"Excellent… I had forgotten that I was the best strategist in our team, isn't that right?"

Sage Pedro smiled too. He knew that Sarzan wasn't talking about himself and that he meant that sarcastically. (Sarzan was the best at fast earth-style techniques, but Pedro Namikaze was their best strategist. Yoninke was the best at sword-based combat and close-range combat.)

Sarzan went back to his normal monkey form.

"Mighty Yoninke are you ready!?" asked Pedro.

"Take me out of this crappy sheath already! Mighty ninjas need air and action!"

After sounding somewhat pissed, Yoninke gave his approval:

"Let's go, the mightiest gorilla blade is ready!"

Pedro Namikaze—still in sage mode—went after Dormon again with the Yoninke sword. Sarzan followed behind them.

Dormon was back on his feet and ready for them, but he definitely wasn't thinking as clearly as Team Namikaze. And he had not taken notice about the bad state of his own team. When he saw that the earth sage didn't have the armor, he actually thought he was the one on the winning side because his opponent's armor could not take it, and he had just hit it once. He was forgetting that the sage mode itself already acted as an armor of natural chakra, making the sages more powerful for both defense and offense.

Team Namikaze's focus this time was not Dormon; it was hitting his weapons and breaking them. They were going to attack him in ways that would force him to block or to attack using the sword, the bracelet, and the armor…

It only took one mighty strike from the Yoninke sword for the bracelet to break. Leya went back to her normal form and she fell on the ground. This wasn't surprising because, as we all know, she was the one that had the worst condition in her team. It was unbelievable that she still managed to do all of this, even after her previous battle with Team Namikaze. She was a true elite, but even the elites had a limit, and she had reached hers. She was barely conscious when she turned back into a monkey.

Dormon kicked Leya out of the way and kept going, holding his sword with both hands. However, he definitely wasn't expecting what happened next.

When he and the earth sage clashed swords again, the Yoninke sword bent around Dormon's sword and held it. Next, Pedro Namikaze was going to land a kick on Dormon's head and Sarzan was going to get him with an earth axe. Dormon had to let go of his sword to dodge both of them—it was the only way to escape both attacks.

Then, the Yoninke sword threw the other sword to Sarzan. Yoninke also complained about it burning him, but their strategy was working.

Sarzan ran with the other sword and, after he got some distance from Dormon, he knew what to do:

"Earth-shaper jutsu!"

Sarzan made another earth axe and went berserk on the sword, as if it was some sort of hitting bag with a treasure inside.

"This is for what you two did to me at the White Mountain!"

Sarzan turned the axe into an earth bat and finished it with his best strike:

"This is the biggest stadium in our land and I am the best ball hitter in the Earth Realm!" (More like the best liar actually, he even believed it… good thing it helped him to bat a homerun.)

He hit the sword really hard with the center of the bat's thickest portion and it went flying close to where Leya was. Barion and Rosu reverted to their monkey forms and stayed on the ground. They couldn't even stand up. Barion still had the underwear from before on, and everyone at the stadium saw that…

Dormon was an easier target without the sword and the bracelet. He could only attack them with his jutsus, which were still more powerful than many, but he was at a disadvantage now. He had the earth sage with the crazy sword and another monkey with great earth-style techniques going against him. Nonetheless, he still could make things pretty difficult with his wood-based "fast growth" techniques that could shape the surroundings to his advantage.

Despite all that, he was too focused on the human, so he ended up giving Sarzan a full opening, and Sarzan caught him with an earth strike. At that moment, the Yoninke sword was also close enough to Dormon. It was time to teach them a lesson!

"Ninja gorilla combo!"

The sword aimed dozens of fast slashes at armor Erion. Dormon was worried for a second because he realized that he couldn't avoid all of that, but the slashes were not going after him. They were aimed at his armor. Erion began to block them, but it was crazy and he was too tired. Erion couldn't take more and he went back to his normal form. Dormon got mad, grabbed Erion, and threw him out of the way. Erion landed close to the other three and, just like them, he stayed on the ground there.

"Yoninke now!"

The mighty ninja sword knew what Namikaze meant with that.

"Gorilla flash!"

That was the fastest slash that the Yoninke sword could deliver and Dormon didn't even see it. The false king didn't have an armor on either.

The slash cut through Dormon's dark yellow clothes from his left shoulder to his stomach. This was unseen and unheard of. No one had landed an attack like that on Dormon before…

Yoninke had overdone it though. He had done far too many "gorilla" attacks.

"I am exhausted," whispered the Yoninke sword.

"Revert back now! We can finish him without your sword form," said sage Pedro.

Yoninke went back to his monkey form and grabbed his twin blades:

"Much better! I don't feel too tired like this."

Then, Dormon gave the loud animalistic scream of a furious gorilla:

"Aaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh!"

And, at that instant, sage Pedro could feel it: there was barely any time left; his sage mode was going to run out very soon.

"Sarzan! Yoninke! Let's finish him together! This reminds me of King Enma when he fought us at his best. It's about to start and we must end it quickly. This is the new end of the mountain!"

Team Namikaze went into a 3-versus-1 battle with Dormon, just like they did countless times with Enma. However, this was the real deal. This time the king would kill them for real if they didn't win.

Times had changed though. Enma had beaten them many times before, but all three were more powerful now. Pedro Namikaze was still an earth sage and both Sarzan and Yoninke had been elites at the Royal Tribe for two years. They were ready for it…

In just three minutes Dormon was practically beaten—and he knew it, but he would never accept it. It was then that he managed to land a serious attack on Sarzan. He used the earth-shoot jutsu and created four earth spikes at once. He launched all of them at Sarzan. One of the spikes went through one of Sarzan's legs like a real bullet. However, this also gave sage Pedro the chance he needed to land a powerful earth strike on Dormon, right before his sage mode ended. The strike was done with a giant earth sword, so it was even more powerful than Sarzan's strikes, which used earth hands. It sent Dormon flying in the opposite direction.

Dormon landed right where his four elites were, but unlike them, he stood up again (he was pretty tough). However, something was already clear in the eyes of the spectators: Team Namikaze and its sage had beaten Dormon.

Pedro Namikaze's eyes changed at that moment. His yellow pupils went back to normal and the same happened to the skin around his eyes. His pupils were now red, for the sharingan eye, and brown, for his other normal eye. The power of an earth sage left him, but he could still fight. (This wouldn't have been the case if he had been using the "open chakra gates" mode. Later on in this story, we will find out that the "open gates" mode is the sage mode of the humans. However, Pedro Namikaze won't be the one that uses it to its fullest—opening all eight gates.)

Yoninke helped Sarzan to stand up. Clearly, Sarzan couldn't fight anymore in that condition. He could barely walk…

Everyone was amazed with what they saw. King Enma could barely believe it. However, the proof was there: Team Namikaze was the best team that he had trained in his life. Yoninke's father had a similar reaction—he definitely couldn't criticize Yoninke anymore for being a "ninja loser." Em couldn't wait to free himself from that pillar and that rope; he already believed that they had won and that it was over. The monkeys from Dormon's tribes couldn't believe it either. They knew that Dormon was more powerful. How was this outcome even possible? (they asked themselves) And, the survivors from the Royal Tribe were starting to get an advantage over their enemies. They knew that this was the best moment to turn the tables on them.

However, all of that was about to change soon…

Dormon stood up and the way he looked definitely wasn't good. He was thinking clearly now, just as he did when he was giving his speech before. He was at the center of the stadium once again. His four elites were lying around him, defeated. However, Dormon did not look defeated.

"Earth-hold jutsu!"

Dormon grabbed the elites with four hands of earth and sent them flying to the four edges of the stadium. He had no mercy with them.

"You guys were right after all, but your performances were pathetic anyways. I don't need you any longer. I underestimated them. However, I will change that now. I will show them and their tribe how I conquered all the other tribes at the Earth Realm, and how I killed their mighty leaders. This meaningless victory won't last much longer."

Despite all that happened, Dormon was still pretty confident…

"Forest-shield! Rise!"

Many circles of trees began to grow around Dormon, surrounding him. Then, he finished it:

"Earth-style web barriers!"

The earth under the trees became more solid and much stickier. It began to form barriers that went from one tree to another, leaving some little spaces in between, just like spider webs. Then, Dormon raised two mounds of earth at his sides and placed his hands on them. He didn't even have to sit down for his next task. He closed his eyes and began to gather sage chakra. He already knew that they would not be able to break all his barriers and trees before he reached his perfect sage mode. This was his way to gain the four minutes that he needed for it.

When Pedro Namikaze saw that, Dormon's plan was clear to him. The barriers of trees and strange-looking earth would give him the time he needed to reach sage mode. It was likely that it was already too late to stop him. Pedro could have stopped it in sage mode, but he didn't have it now. He quickly thought about the best plan of action to raise their chances of success:

"Yoninke, protect Sarzan and free the other elites from the Royal Tribe now! We won't have enough time to stop Dormon from reaching sage mode. I can reach mine once again, but you have to free the others in case I don't make it in time."

"But, Namikaze, you are the one that is closest to him. You need to get away from there too!"

"I can't waste more time, please help me with that Yoninke!"

Pedro Namikaze sat down. He closed his eyes and began the process of gathering sage chakra once again, but all of a sudden there was a jump—in a matter of seconds, he was already halfway through it. (This was why he left the other three shadow clones gathering sage chakra underground!) Yoninke had forgotten about that already, but he remembered it as soon as he saw it.

"Don't worry! You focus here and Yoninke will take care of the rest!"

Yoninke ran to free Em and Enma first. He was carrying Sarzan with him. He used his twin blades to cut the ropes on the pillars. He left Sarzan with them and ran to free the other ten elites that were on the other pillars around the stadium. Yashiro, the Royal Tribe's lighting-style elite, was the last one. When Yoninke freed Yashiro, a voice in pain talked to them. It was Erion, who had been left in fatal condition after what Dormon did to him and the other three:

"Hey, mighty monkey… you should run away from here while you can. Dormon cannot be defeated in sage mode. Even you and your human sage don't stand a chance. My tribe's leader was as good as you three put together and he still didn't make it. Dormon killed him without too much effort. Save yourself while you can… those of you who stay here and fight will die…"

Yoninke couldn't sympathize with Erion. (After all, these elites had tried to kill them too, just the day before…)

"Mighty gorillas don't run away from danger."

As Yoninke replied with that, he took a "badass" stance as well.

Erion couldn't believe it:

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?! I can't believe I was beaten by idiots like you!"

"I wasn't the one that crushed you against that wall of earth," added Yoninke.

Erion stayed very quiet after that. Deep down, he knew that he was the real fool for being one of Dormon's elites—which meant pawns, in their case… it was too late for him though. He had realized who the real enemy was when he was close to death. Dormon had been the real enemy of them all, since the day he became the leader at his tribe...

Yoninke and Yashiro left.

All the remaining elites from the Royal Valley had been freed.

Pedro Namikaze still needed more time to reach sage mode again.

Dormon was already close to reaching his.

The terror of the Earth Realm was about to begin…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Terror of the Earth Realm


	30. Chapter 30: Terror of the Earth Realm

**CHAPTER 30: Terror of the Earth Realm**

When the rogue tribes realized what Dormon was doing, the panic began to spread through all of them. The hundreds of monkeys from the other tribes even stopped fighting against the prisoners from the Royal Valley. They looked terrified and their reactions showed that their only concern was to get away from the stadium as soon as possible. All of them had seen Dormon's sage mode at least once. They knew what was coming, so they feared for their lives. And saving themselves was certainly more important than keeping the prisoners inside the giant wooden cells.

The widespread panic among the invaders was a testament of what was coming. The only exit at the stadium was packed and many began to jump on the wooden cells to escape through other routes.

King Enma and his elites from the Royal Valley realized that Dormon's last action was what triggered the chaos. Was his sage mode really that powerful? Or was it because the conquered tribes had been taught to fear him? Whatever the case, King Enma was not going to put the Royal Tribe at risk again. He sent five of his elites—Team Hurricane—to free the villagers from the giant cells, and to warn them about getting away from there as soon as possible. Sarzan, Yoninke, Yashiro, Em, and the other four elites, stayed with King Enma.

Then, an incredible roar from a gorilla came from the inside of Dormon's barriers, and all the trees that protected him began to fall in a hurry. Something was breaking them from the inside.

The invaders that were still inside the stadium became even more desperate about escaping after they heard that. It was the sign that proved Dormon had reached his sage mode. Thus, he didn't need the barriers of trees anymore.

Dormon destroyed all of his remaining trees with a devastating attack that provoked an explosion and a cloud of dust.

Pedro Namikaze was closer to reaching sage mode, but this was the second time, so he needed much more time than before to do it. He couldn't rush into it like he did before.

King Enma realized that neither he nor Em had any time for their sage mode, but they needed at least one sage on their side to defeat Dormon. They had to ensure that Mr. Namikaze could reach sage mode again. They had to stop Dormon at all costs.

The king and the other elites ran to the center of the stadium, where the cloud of dust from the fallen barriers was starting to leave slowly. They left Pedro Namikaze behind them. Yoninke had to stay behind too because someone had to protect Sarzan, who couldn't even walk. Em realized that the human earth sage still needed five more minutes, based on the color of the skin around his eyes…

When Dormon was visible and both Em and Enma laid eyes on him, the king and his other son understood what they were up against. Dormon had achieved 100% of the Earth Realm's sage mode. He was an earth sage that surpassed them, even if they were sages as well. The proof was the barely-visible brown mark around his eyes and the intense yellow color of his pupils. The closer sage mode got to perfection, the smaller the brown mark became. Em, Enma, and even Pedro Namikaze had larger brown marks around their eyes when they were earth sages.

Dormon looked like before, but he was far more powerful now. He demonstrated it right away:

"Grand-sage-jutsu! Walls of King Dormon!"

Solid walls of earth began to rise outside the stadium. They rose fast and as high as 40 meters. They were visible from the inside, but they were not very close to the stadium itself, so they managed to keep nearly everyone trapped inside. Even most of the invaders didn't make it in time to escape the giant earth walls. This was why they were in such a hurry to escape. The reach and the magnitude of the techniques from a perfect earth sage were incredible.

It was a frightening sight, but King Enma had recovered his fighting spirit after what Team Namikaze did. He didn't plan to back away this time, even if the enemy was Dormon:

"Do not fear! We are the best ninjas of the Royal Valley and protecting the Royal Tribe is our duty! You all saw how just three of us stopped him before. Now all of us will stop him together! Your days as a criminal are over Dormon!"

Sage Dormon smiled at them.

"You and your elites are as foolish as ever father. I am the new king from now on. The only days that are over here are the days of your Royal Tribe!"

The king and his elites unleashed their best jutsus on Dormon, all at once.

"Earth sage's shield!"

Dormon created a powerful earth shield around himself without much effort. The shield was penetrated, but he still had plenty of sage chakra acting as a natural armor around his body, so even their mightiest techniques didn't do anything to him.

Em and Enma caught him with earth-hold, but he broke out of it as if it was foam. Normal earth techniques could not hold him. Then, he raised a forest of trees and aimed them at the seven elites that were fighting against him (including Em and Enma). The monkey ninjas from the Royal Valley moved like experts around the wild trees, but they had not been able to do anything to Dormon. However, they were delaying him—just as the king intended—and Dormon realized it:

"All of you are getting in my way. You are not the ones I want now. I want the three that fought me before."

Then, from high above his trees, Dormon looked beyond the ones that he was fighting and he saw the human was working on reaching sage mode again. Dormon had no worries, but it still made him mad that they had succeeded at delaying him a little, so he took it seriously to finish them quickly. He went from a defensive stance to an all-out offensive against the seven elites from his old tribe.

Dormon caught one of them with multiple strikes of earth. Another one aimed a sword slash at his head, but Dormon turned around and grabbed the sword. The focused sage chakra on his hand protected it like an armor. An earth mound raised in front of Dormon and a swift earth blade came out of it. The blade impaled the elite that almost landed a slash on his head. Dormon turned around again, after grabbing the new blade, and he threw it at the other one, killing him as well. (The other one was still stunned from all of Dormon's earth strikes.)

At that instant, the two others that were closest to Dormon aimed multiple earth-shots at him. However, his armor of natural chakra was too strong, so the small earth spikes didn't go through it. He was ready for them too:

"This is how it is done: swords of nature!"

Dormon raised hundreds of earth swords from the ground and launched a rain of natural blades at these two guys.

The two monkeys stopped and dodged many of them, but many others hit them. They were in critical condition and the ground around them started to get red quickly. They still launched a combined attack of earth and water—the earth torrent—against Dormon, but it wasn't enough, just like everything else they tried against him. They also attacked him with their swords, but Dormon grabbed both of them. When they turned around, Dormon slashed their throats using their own swords.

Everything happened too fast. The king and Em couldn't stop it because they didn't get to them in time. Yashiro didn't make it in time either.

"Nooo!" yelled King Enma frustrated when he saw that four of his good elites—and friends—were killed in a flash, without even having a chance to help them. Somehow, he still didn't have the full will to kill Dormon, but that was changing after he saw what Dormon had become. His older son was a monster that had to be stopped. Em, on the other hand, had no inhibitions to attack this menace, even if it was family.

Em, Enma, and Yashiro clashed against sage Dormon, avoiding extended close range battle as much as possible. Dormon had no time for them, however, so he allowed some of their attacks to hit him on purpose, so that he could catch them with his counterattack. He waited for Em and Enma to attack him together, and when they finally did it, he caught them with his two most powerful earth hands. Then, the hands of earth crashed them against the walls at the edges of the stadium—just like he had done with his elites, but these hands were far stronger than those.

"I will kill you two later. I may need you to give the survivors of your tribe a final display of my power. Now, I don't have time to deal with you two."

Em and Enma were alive, but their crashes against the stadium's earth walls were pretty strong. They were not going to get back so easily. Yashiro was also lying on the floor after one of Dormon's techniques hit him.

Then, the other five elites came back—the ones that Enma sent to free the prisoners. They saw that only Yashiro was left there and even he wasn't quite ready, so they felt it was up to them, the "Hurricane" Team of the Royal Tribe.

"You won't have time to deal with them because you have to deal with us! Team Hurricane will take you down!"

The five monkeys were wearing the same exact clothes and they had the same fighting stances too. They looked like quintuplets. They all had two blades like Yoninke, but their blades were not as badass as Yoninke's twins. All five could use wind-style techniques; two of them could use fire jutsus too; and the other three used earth-based attacks. The fire users engulfed their swords with flames, and the other three used earth as defensive shields and their swords to attack. The five monkeys attacked Dormon ferociously, like little wild twisters that were clashing on the same spot again and again.

However, their swords, their wind, and even their burning slashes were not doing much against Dormon. His chakra shield was truly powerful. He had a colossal advantage not because he was much more skilled, but because they couldn't even hurt him. The "hurricane" monkeys started to look worried, despite their brave attack on Dormon. They had managed to delay him further though…

When Dormon saw that the human sage was going to finish soon, he decided to stop all of them simultaneously with one of his best sage techniques:

"Earh sage's earth abyss!"

All of the earth around Dormon—inside and outside the stadium—began to transform into quicksand that started to suck in everyone slowly. His technique's reach was outstanding, so the phenomenon affected the grounds everywhere from the inside of the stadium to where his giant walls had risen before. This intensified the terror among all the monkeys even more…

Pedro Namikaze felt he just needed one more minute, but the ground began to suck him in slowly, so he had to stop gathering sage chakra. If he was submerged entirely, it could stop him from becoming a sage altogether, but if he did any sudden movement, there was also the risk of turning to stone. It was a difficult situation…

Luckily, Sarzan helped him. Sarzan couldn't walk, but he was their best earth-style ninja, even without having sage mode. Sarzan raised three earth hands that saved Team Namikaze from the earth abyss. All the other monkeys had no other choice than to keep moving nonstop; otherwise, they would get sucked in where they were standing. This massive earth phenomenon affected everyone except Dormon—the quicksand began to appear everywhere around him—and the ones that were not on the ground, which were Team Namikaze, Em, and Enma.

Dormon pretty much destroyed Team Hurricane after the abyss technique affected the arena. It wasn't a handicap for him, but they had to worry about not getting sucked in by the ground too. It made fighting sage Dormon close to impossible, unless they could fly or stand somewhere else, where the ground would not suck them in. They couldn't do any of those things. Their earth hands were not even half as good as Sarzan's, so they couldn't take advantage of those. They became easy targets for Dormon and he didn't hesitate to finish them. He submerged each one of them into the sands of earth, after they were caught by the trees from his mad growth technique.

Then, Dormon realized that the earth abyss was draining his sage power quickly, so he stopped it. He thought that taking care of the human sage was all that was left…

Yashiro knew that Pedro Namikaze only needed a little more time to be ready, so he shot the lighting arrow—one of the most powerful lighting-style attacks—at sage Dormon. Dormon knew that this wasn't something that sage chakra could block—lighting attacks could penetrate chakra shields—so he quickly raised an earth shield to cover himself. The arrow destroyed the shield, but it didn't reach Dormon. However, by the time Dormon saw Yashiro again, the monkey already had another one of those devastating arrows ready; and he shot it at Dormon. It was too fast, so Dormon had no time for jutsus or earth shields. Dormon realized this was the most dangerous adversary for him because he had one powerful attack that could defeat him—it disregarded the sage chakra shield altogether.

Dormon abandoned his shield and focused on pure speed. He dodged the second arrow, but the field of electricity around the arrow still reached him. It was the first attack that managed to do something to him, in his perfect sage form, and it had not even landed on him. Clearly, if it hit him directly it could be enough to take him down. He had to stop Yashiro quickly.

Dormon focused the power of sage chakra on his fist and went after Yashiro at great speed. He was larger, but also faster because of sage mode. Yashiro couldn't avoid him for long and he got hit by the charged punch of the perfect earth sage.

Yashiro landed not too far from Pedro Namikaze. As he stood up, he coughed blood. He felt he had a broken bone too. This probably was his last chance to stop Dormon (he thought). He charged another lighting arrow and aimed it at Dormon again. Pedro—in his sitting position with his eyes closed—noticed Yashiro's voice and his pain as he coughed. The state of things didn't sound good at all to Pedro:

"Yashiro, what's going on!? Are you ok?!"

"Don't worry about me, just finish your sage transformation already! You may be the only one that can stop Dormon now. However, I still have one more shot…"

Dormon created two mighty earth swords and grabbed one as if he planned to throw it like lance:

"Let's see who wins! Your lightning arrow or my sage swords!"

Blood started to be visible from Yashiro's mouth. Dormon's charged punch had devastated his body, but he had to do this. He held the arrow with just one hand and launched a quick lighting attack at Dormon's location. As soon as Dormon dodged it, Yashiro shot the third lighting arrow at full speed.

Dormon removed his chakra shield and dodged the arrow by focusing his sage mode on speed. He already knew that he could dodge it, but he liked to make his opponents feel hopeless. He launched one of his swords at Yashiro at a speed that he couldn't dodge. The sword penetrated Yashiro at the very center of his stomach area. He grabbed it and began to pull it out with great pain; he knew he would die quickly if he didn't remove the sword fast.

Dormon was ready to end his last opponent in sight:

"We both know that your arrows are stronger, but my swords won anyways. None of you can match my sage power. Now, pay the price of challenging King Dormon!"

Dormon launched the second earth sword at Yashiro. This one was aimed at the head. Yashiro thought that he was going to die there.

"I hope I gave him enough time to do it, now it is up to you Pedro Namikaze!"

Right before the second sword reached Yashiro, a perfectly calculated double strike stopped its course and took it down. The show stopper's slashes were incredibly fast.

"Yashiro, you better not die on us! Namikaze is about to finish it. I will get him the time he needs!"

Yoninke walked closer to Dormon and he took his "mighty ninja" stance with his twin blades.

"Mighty gorilla Yoninke is going to stop you now," stated Yoninke, without a single doubt about it.

Sage Dormon began to laugh at him.

"You are just a little monkey with some skills. Your sword form was pretty impressive, but you don't stand a chance against me now, not in a thousand years either. And you are definitely not a gorilla or a mighty opponent. Those words describe me much better. Look around yourself; you already know what awaits you for challenging me!"

Yoninke noticed that Dormon had an opening and he still didn't have his chakra shield back, so he took the chance. Yoninke made three jumps towards different directions and, once he landed in front of Dormon, he aimed a fast slash at his feet. Dormon jumped, but he couldn't avoid anything in the air, so Yoninke jumped and caught him with a fast slash from his other sword. Dormon, however, had already risen his full chakra shield. As good as the little monkey was, Dormon knew those swords would never be able to go through his chakra shield—at least, that was what he thought.

He laughed again.

"You see!? You can't do anything to King Dormon! Now follow me or die here!"

Yoninke used the moment to land back on the floor and to return back at Dormon with his most powerful ninja strike ever. He focused completely on one of his swords and held it with both hands. His most powerful strike landed on Dormon's face and he kept the momentum going down until the sword reached the floor. Then, he followed it with another one, just as powerful as the other one, all over again. He couldn't reach the ground with the second one because his sword's blade broke. Yoninke jumped back, holding the handle of the blade he used—the rest had been destroyed. He dropped that one and grabbed the other twin blade he had. He looked at Dormon's face and, at the same time, his own face started to look a little victorious. Dormon had not noticed what happened yet. And before he did, Yoninke gave him the lesson that he had promised before, not with strikes, but with words:

"You talk too much false king. I am not a mighty gorilla because I look like one. I am a mighty ninja gorilla because I am one at heart already. That is what makes you one, not the way you look or the powers that you may have."

Dormon smiled when he saw the sword break, but Yoninke's words erased his smile and angered him. Was he implying that King Dormon was not a true mighty gorilla? Besides, why was he still so brave and confident? Why?!

Dormon noticed why soon enough…

He was convinced that the little monkey was no match for his chakra shield, so he didn't worry about blocking the attacks—the truth is that he wasn't fast enough to block them anyways…

Dormon felt some liquid around his mouth. When he touched his mouth with his hand and looked back at it, he saw that it was his blood. His upper lip was broken and blood was coming from it. Yoninke's strikes had been strong and fast enough to penetrate his chakra shield and even to cut him, a perfect earth sage.

"You little monkey! I am going to show you what a mighty gorilla truly is!"

Dormon was beyond mad. He gave out the colossal roar of a bestial gorilla once again. Its fury and anger reached everyone within the giant earth walls around the stadium. Dormon was going to pulverize Yoninke with his next attack.

"Earth sage's earth booster!"

Dormon kept his chakra shield, but he also used the same sage technique as sage Pedro to raise the force of all his next attacks.

Sarzan and half-dead Yashiro looked worried, but they were not ready to help Yoninke. Sarzan yelled at him:

"You fool! Get away from there! This is not the time for your gorilla bravery!"

Yoninke raised his remaining sword. True mighty ninjas were not supposed to run away from danger…

Em and Enma were starting to come back to their senses as well…

Then, Dormon rushed at Yoninke with his shield and the chakra-charged earth glowing around his arms. This was certainly the end for mighty ninja Yoninke, but sage Pedro clashed with Dormon before he reached Yoninke. He had become a sage while Yoninke was talking to Dormon.

Sage Pedro also had a chakra shield; and he also used the earth booster. However, after their clash, with a single mighty punch from both sides, sage Pedro was pushed way back. He fell to the ground, his chakra shield was broken, and when he looked at his arm, he saw a serious bruise. (And he was in sage mode already. This was the difference in power between 90% and 100% of the earth sage mode.) On the other hand, Dormon's chakra shield had been half-broken everywhere, but he wasn't pushed back too far and he didn't fall to the ground. In no time, he got his full shield back. Nothing happened to him.

Yoninke ran to where Pedro landed.

"Great, you made it! Now we have a chance to end this bastard!"

Then, he saw the large bruise on Pedro's arm. Clearly, things were not in their favor, even with an earth sage on their side.

"Yoninke please take Sarzan and Yashiro away from here. Don't get close to him!"

"What? Do you think you can stop him by yourself?! I can't turn into my sword form now, but I can help you."

"Yes, you can help me by saving the others. That is the job of mighty ninjas too."

He was right, Sarzan and Yashiro were in danger there, so they needed his help. Yoninke went to take them to safer ground.

Em and Emna were already seeing what was happening since sage Pedro clashed with sage Dormon. Things were not looking good, but they had to free themselves first before they could do anything to help Pedro Namikaze. Both of them were half-buried on the walls of earth (because of how hard their crash with them was).

Pedro Namikaze was about to use the open chakra gates—he could open up a maximum of five out of the eight—in addition to sage mode. He could certainly match Dormon's power like that and he probably had a chance to defeat him too. However, as he stood there, he remembered Hiruzen's final words and all the things that Hiruzen had taught him. All of them had been aimed at fighting enemies that were more powerful than him—just like Dormon.

Hiruzen recommended never using the open chakra gates mode because it guaranteed defeat if the enemy was still standing after it ran out. This was not an option now, since the whole Royal Valley was going to be destroyed if Dormon defeated them; and he would be defeated after the chakra gates reached their limit. Then, he remembered the techniques that Hiruzen taught him. They were ideal to fight someone like Dormon. Besides, sage mode was not going to last him forever either…

It was then that sage Pedro had a great realization. Sage mode didn't last forever; in fact, it never lasted more than ten minutes for him, no matter what he did. This meant that Dormon's perfect sage mode was not permanent either. It would run out eventually as well, and he certainly was not going to have the power, the strength, or even the chance to get back to it a second time. (Pedro had been able to do it only because of his sage chakra exploit with the shadow clones technique.)

Since Dormon was so powerful, the key to beating him was not surpassing his power, but rather delaying him until it ran out, and then finishing him—as a normal gorilla, without sage mode. This became sage Pedro's plan of action to defeat Dormon…

(He would use the earth terrain to his advantage to gain time. He would also use the shadow clones and the replacement jutsu as diversions. He would avoid another head-to-head clash with Dormon, unless the one doing it was one of his six shadow clones.)

Dormon was solely focused on sage Pedro. He believed that defeating the human earth sage was the only thing he had left to win.

"Why are you trying to get away from me now!? Are you afraid of getting dropped to the ground again human sage!?"

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

Dormon wasn't worried about clones and tricks. He thought that he was winning the battle.

Yoninke noticed it too:

"What is he doing? He is the one that can defeat Dormon directly. Why isn't he going straight for Dormon?!"

Sarzan and Yashiro did notice why he was doing it, but it worried Yashiro:

"He wants to wait until Dormon's sage mode runs out. Then, even you might be able to finish him Yoninke. The problem is that the perfect sages can stay in sage mode for much longer. I don't know if his smart way is the best way now…"

Yashiro began to cough blood as soon as he finished talking. The sword had been removed from him, but his condition was critical. He needed medical attention.

Meanwhile, sage Pedro used his other techniques to fool Dormon several times. Dormon thought he had him and threw a rain of earth swords at him, but it was one of the clones. Pedro had marked the clones with the replacement chakra seal, so the two times when Dormon almost got him, he just changed position with the clones (which were destroyed by Dormon, one by one). Even though Dormon was a better earth sage—in terms of power—he wasn't as smart as Pedro to shape the earth terrain for his advantage. He was caught off-guard several times and had a difficult time catching the human sage because of this. Besides, the human was as fast as Dormon, even though he wasn't at 100% of the earth sage mode.

Dormon was not showing any signs of getting tired though.

After four minutes, sage Pedro realized that the chance that his own sage mode would run out again before Dormon's did was quite possible. He had lost his six shadow clones as well. His best option was fighting Dormon directly, using his only true advantages over him: smarter tactics and the sharingan. The problem was that using the sharingan demanded high amounts of chakra, so his use of it was limited as well.

Nonetheless, sage Dormon got the surprise of a lifetime when his punch and his sword went straight through the human sage, without doing anything to him. What was going on?!

I will tell you what happened: he had been caught in a genjutsu after looking at the sharingan eye, so he began to see things that were not there.

"Are you trying to fool me with your clones and your tricks!? Make as many as you want! They can't stop me!"

Sage Pedro used those moments to land many serious strikes on Dormon using earth swords, jutsus, and even a couple of kicks. However, Dormon wasn't going down no matter what and he also woke up from the genjutsu. The battle became harder after that since the shadow clones had been beaten already. It seemed like Dormon was starting to win again. Then, it happened…

Both Pedro Namikaze and Dormon felt that their sage modes were about to run out. For both of them, this meant defeat. Dormon knew that he had spent all his chakra and power in this battle. If there was just one of the elites standing when his sage mode ran out, he could be defeated. Likewise, Pedro Namikaze knew that if Dormon still had sage mode when his ran out, he was out of luck, and probably dead too. Dormon would be able to finish him and the others if that happened…

In that last minute, Pedro Namikaze went on a full assault against Dormon with everything he had. Towards the end, he started to look like he was winning against Dormon. When they clashed with their charged earth fists, once again, both were pushed back and this time Dormon fell to the ground as well—unlike before—and his chakra shield was completely shattered. However, Pedro's eyes and the brown skin color around them changed. He felt exhausted and beaten up, all of a sudden. He was not an earth sage anymore. He was a normal human that had gone through three major battles—one with the elites and two with Dormon—and he could feel every bit of it on his body. He couldn't stand up right away.

Dormon stood up and reached Pedro. He still had his perfect sage mode.

"You could have done it if you lasted two minutes longer, which is what I have left. It is too bad for you, your friends, and your tribe, but King Dormon wins at the end. I am more powerful than all of the elites at the Royal Tribe, so this was meant to be. Now, your death awaits human sage."

Dormon grabbed Pedro Namikaze and raised him from the ground. He focused the sage chakra he had left on his body and his arms. He began to squeeze and press the human. He planned to kill him by breaking his bones and then his head. In his mind, this was a fitting death for anyone that challenged King Dormon. This was why the tribes feared him so much.

Pedro Namikaze screamed in pain and closed his eyes.

Yoninke grabbed his sword and began to run towards them, but, was he going to make it?

Yashiro also prepared one final lighting arrow for Dormon, but it wasn't ready yet.

King Enma was watching with desperation; he still wasn't completely free.

Em had been gathering sage chakra and he was close to reaching his sage mode. He had not bothered trying to escape the wall burial. He knew it would be easy as a sage, but he still needed at least thirty more seconds—this was too long though, Pedro Namikaze needed help right away.

Dormon was ready to end it for Pedro Namikaze:

"I stopped just to hear you scream, but now I won't stop until you stop breathing. Be aware that this is what will happen to the others after I am done with you. I will destroy the Royal Tribe and rule at the Earth Realm!"

Pedro Namikaze had a brief glimpse of Maida and her village. He was willing to put his life on the line to save them, but he had failed back then. He felt the same way about the Royal Tribe now. If there was anything he could do to stop it from happening again—this time at the Royal Valley—he was going to do it. He couldn't allow it to happen again, no matter what…

Pedro Namikaze opened only one of his eyes and yelled:

"Tsukuyomi!"

Dormon was puzzled. How could he do any jutsu without using his hands?

However, Dormon looked at the eye too. The human's sharingan eye was terrifying at that moment. It was Maida's mangekyou sharingan and it looked like it had the depths of hell in it.

Suddenly, the sky started to turn red, looking just like the red eye. Then, Dormon noticed that he was holding the trunk of a small tree, instead of the human. He dropped it right away. What was going on?! He could not move either.

Pedro Namikaze was standing in front of him and Dormon was still in sage mode.

"You! What did you do!? Do you really think you can stop me with your mind tricks?!"

"I did the ultimate genjutsu of the mangekyou sharingan. Your perception of reality now belongs to me for the next two hours. That is because I am not a pure-blooded Uchiha; if I was one, it would be for the next two days."

Dormon tried to move, but even his sage power was not allowing him to do it.

Pedro Namikaze showed him his original sword.

"That sword! You don't even have it anymore! How did it get here!?"

"I said it, but you are not listening to me. I will decide your reality for the next two hours, or until I can't do Tsukuyomi anymore. It may even last more than two hours…"

The way the sky looked, the way the human talked, and how his sharingan eye looked, were starting to worry Dormon.

Another shadow clone appeared holding the same Namikaze sword. Then, a third one appeared, looking the same way. Dormon's arms began to raise up without his consent, until they were in a straight line with his shoulders.

"You… what are you planning to do stupid human sage?!"

"I am planning to ensure your defeat," stated Pedro Namikaze without a single trace of doubt in his voice.

The two shadow clones pierced Dormon's biceps with their Namikaze swords. The swords entered from one side and came out from the other side of Dormon's arms. They went through the chakra shield as if it wasn't even there. The pain was excruciating for Dormon. Then, Pedro Namikaze drove his own sword into Dormon's chest. Dormon had never experienced such a hopeless and mind-destroying anguish. A quick death was certainly much better than that agonizing pain. Its mental torment was just as bad as the one in the flesh. Dormon had caused this same kind of pain and torment to others, but he had never experienced it himself…

Then, the three swords disappeared and the pain eased up. The swords reappeared on the hands of Pedro and his shadow clones. They looked clean, as if they had never been used before. Dormon didn't have any wounds either. It was then that Dormon realized what was going to happen to him…

The two clones began to walk to him to repeat the process; they were going to do the same thing again.

"No, wait! You can't do this!"

Dormon started to sound very worried for the very first time, since we met him.

"This is going to be your reality for the next two hours, or until I drop from exhaustion at the sharingan's limit. You won't be able to do anything to the Royal Tribe after this. You may not even be conscious when we return from the realm of Tsukuyomi. Now, I am done talking."

Pedro Namikaze sounded a little scary, but Dormon deserved it.

The clones drew their swords into Dormon's arms again and Pedro's sword went through Dormon's chest once again.

Dormon screamed in serious pain. Knowing how it felt made it even worse for the times that followed. It continued repeating itself until Dormon couldn't take it anymore:

"Stop this! I will retreat! I will stop the invasion and leave with my tribes!"

And, as he finished begging, it happened again, for the seventeenth time. And… only fifteen minutes had gone by…

After half an hour, Pedro Namikaze felt a hellish sharp pain in his sharingan eye and the nightmare of Tsukuyomi disappeared from Dormon's mind.

Dormon opened his arms and Pedro was left free, but he was in pain (blood began to come from the sharingan eye). Then, Dormon's eyes went back to normal, but he stayed standing there in some sort of limbo state. Dormon was not a sage anymore though. The mental horror from the sharingan's ultimate genjutsu had affected him more than anything he had ever experienced in his life as a villain.

Yoninke stopped running. Yashiro held back his arrow. Em was about to reach his sage mode. And Enma couldn't believe what happened. All of them were somewhat perplexed at what their eyes saw. At first, Dormon looked victorious. He raised Pedro Namikaze to kill him and just five seconds later, he dropped Pedro and looked completely defeated. He even lost his perfect sage mode. What in the world happened?

Pedro had his hands on the sharingan. Using its ultimate genjutsu had affected him too. He felt like he was going to fall unconscious at any second. He could barely stand. (Tsukuyomi had taken nearly all of his chakra.)

However, this was it, this was the chance to put an end to Dormon for sure. Pedro used his last bit of chakra to raise an earth sword. He could have killed Dormon with it, but, for some reason, he remembered that Dormon was Enma's oldest son and he looked at Enma before he did it. Enma didn't seem certain about it. Even after all the carnage, Enma just couldn't say "yes" to killing Dormon, his oldest son. He had many flaws and he made many mistakes, but he was a father than cared about his children. Even the evil one had some place in his heart. Pedro Namikaze hesitated when he realized how Enma felt about Dormon. However, it was a mistake. The sharp pain of his sharingan eye returned and he dropped the earth sword he had. His chance was over…

To everyone's surprise, Dormon came back to a state of awareness, even after what he went through. He looked defeated, but there was one thing left for him to do:

"I lost, I can barely even see now, but I am going to take you with me human sage, even if it is the last thing I will do before they execute me."

Even in his defeated condition, Dormon created two earth blades that rose from the ground and he held one with each hand.

Everyone got alarmed when they saw that. Pedro Namikaze was not moving and could barely see with his sharingan eye.

Yoninke regretted that he stopped running and rushed towards them, but he wasn't going to make it in time. Enma also regretted not giving him a visual and open confirmation to finishing Dormon. Em was a sage, but he was at the other side of the stadium and he had to break free from the wall first. Yashiro missed with his arrow. He could barely hold that powerful mass and aim it right; it was too much for him in that state. Sarzan realized that only he had a chance to make it in time. (And he wasn't going to let Dormon kill Pedro Namikaze.)

Sarzan made an earth bat and an earth hand; the hand carried him at full speed towards Pedro. He went past Yoninke right away.

"Sarzan! What are you doing!?" screamed Yoninke when he saw that.

Dormon gave Pedro a horizontal slash on the abdominal area with the sword in his left hand. He was going to go right through him with the sword in his right hand, but Sarzan got in between them. Dormon didn't hold back and he ended up going through Sarzan instead. (Pedro couldn't do anything to stop it. No one could.)

Sarzan changed his bat into a sword and impaled Dormon with it:

"Brother, your destruction of our tribe will end here!"

Dormon grabbed Sarzan's sword and removed it from himself. (It was unbelievable that he was still standing and capable of doing that after Tsukuyomi.)

"Brother?" asked Dormon.

Then, another far stronger sword impaled Dormon through his back and close to the heart. It was sage Em's sword.

"Yes, he is our brother, but you never met him because you were sabotaging tribes instead! I am sure that you remember me well though. Your bloody conquest ends now!"

Sage Em took back the sword and impaled Dormon with it again. He removed it a second time and threw it at the earth floor on the ravaged Earth Stadium.

"You won't survive, but I am not going to cut your head off here, as you planned to do with us; I won't do it because of our father, who still cares about you, despite all the things you did to destroy us."

Dormon looked at Sarzan and Enma. Then, he collapsed on the floor there. The last seconds of his life were pretty sad. All he had ever done was to destroy others. That got him power and status, but he had not achieved anything else in his life. He died after having these thoughts. Unfortunately, he also took his younger brother with him.

They rushed Pedro and Sarzan to the closest medical monkeys, but it was too late for Sarzan. His last words for Em—the one who carried him and rushed with him—were that he was glad that he could save Pedro, the only one who never cared about him being a sarcastic liar.

Sage Em and King Enma were more devastated by Sarzan's death than by most of the horrors from the invasion. After Dormon's final defeat, the grand earth walls crumbled and the monkeys from the rogue tribes ran away back to the forests and escaped. Most importantly, they all realized that Dormon himself, and not the Royal Tribe, had been their true enemy from the start.

Pedro Namikaze was in critical condition after Dormon's slash on his abdominal area. He lost a lot of blood. However, they managed to save him, just in time.

During the rushed operation (where the monkey medics that survived gave him a dozen stitches) he lost consciousness. However, it wasn't because of the pain or because of the procedure itself. It was because of the sharingan. He had taken it to the limit again, just like he did to save Yoninke at The Leaf.

He saw himself at the dark realm once again, the realm that only the owners of the special sharingan could see or visit. And, just like before, the mystical sage "H.O." was there, waiting for him…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Days Before Everything Changed


	31. Ch31: The Days Before Everything Changed

**CHAPTER 31: The Days Before Everything Changed**

The place of the visions from the future was as dark and vast as ever, but this time it didn't feel empty. The mysterious man of the white cape, the holy staff, and the violet eyes was back; and this time he was facing Pedro Namikaze from the start. The last time he had been facing the other way, so Pedro only saw his face at the very end—right before he left.

For a while, Pedro Namikaze forgot that he had pain due to the stitches and the operation. He felt that this man was far too important, yet he didn't know anything about him…

"Thank you for saving me and the others. If you had not given me that advice last time, I wouldn't have learned the technique that made all the difference. Everyone could have died… how did you know that? Why are you here? And… who are you?"

Pedro Namikaze had so many questions, but he trusted the stranger already and he was thankful. The "holy messenger" looked quite powerful, but he didn't seem evil and his advice had been the difference between life and death for Pedro Namikaze, and for the Royal Valley as well.

The holy sage replied:

"I don't know anything about the events at the other realms. If I did, I would have had a better chance to stop the calamity that will fall on ours. My sharingan's unique abilities are to see the future of the Human Realm and to communicate with those that have another special sharingan.

I do not know what you experienced at the Earth Realm, but I could see that you would not return if you didn't learn the Tsukuyomi. Important events depend on your return to The Leaf, so I had to intervene to ensure that you would follow the best path. Otherwise, you were not going to come back and many things would have changed.

There is nothing that we can do to avoid the great menace that will soon come to the Human Realm, but you are one of the few that will be able to help me to stop it. This why I am here. As the only one who can see the future and reach out to the other carriers of the special eye, it is my duty to do everything I can to save our realm, if it is still possible."

Pedro Namikaze stood up and walked closer to the holy sage, despite the great pain that he was feeling (in real life, he was in the middle of surgery with the medical monkeys from the Royal Tribe). There was something else to worry about now:

"The menace that will come to the Human Realm, what is it? Is it an enemy or some kind of force? Is it from our own world or from one of the other realms? And the events that I will affect, what are they? And you… who are you? Are you an Uchiha ancestor from the past?"

Pedro Namikaze was holding the place where Dormon had injured him with both hands. The pain was starting to annoy him more and he was sweating cold sweat, but all that mattered was knowing more and getting as much information as he could… the holy messenger was still a total stranger, after all.

The mysterious one sat down with his staff and he began to levitate and rise up from the dark floor. He stopped two meters above Pedro. He definitely wasn't an average human, or even an average Uchiha. His eyes didn't even look like sharingans. (They were rinnegans, the sharingan's final form after the mangekyou.)

"You will know all those answers and more the next time we meet. Now, I have to show you something far more important."

The sky at the dark realm began to show images from The Leaf. It started to look like the visions that Pedro Namikaze had, after Maida Uchiha passed the special sharingan to him. The Leaf was completely destroyed. It looked as if an atomic bomb had fallen on the great ninja clan from the Human Realm. Pedro felt the destruction and the suffering from that image as if it had happened in his own heart.

The holy sage revealed the real reason why he was there this time:

"Do you see it? This will be the future of The Leaf if you don't do what I am here to tell you. Something similar may happen to our realm as well if you don't do it."

The image changed to another vision that showed a specific place at The Leaf's territory. It was approximately one kilometer away from the large central village, known as Konoha. There was a small house there. Also, in this vision, Konoha and The Leaf were not in ruins…

"In exactly fifteen days from the moment when you wake up now, you will return to The Leaf. You must make sure that you travel and return to this precise spot that I am showing you here. You must use the mangekyou sharingan to execute the teleportation summoning jutsu that you learned from my book. You will have to use it to its limit once again, but do not fear because it is the fastest way to make this trip. Also, you need to bring The Leaf's headband and the diary that you wrote at the Earth Realm. Don't forget those two items and make sure that you return in fifteen days.

Everything is going to change, but it is a necessary change. Without it your clan will be destroyed and our realm may fall too."

The image of The Leaf disappeared and the holy one began to fade away as well, just like he did before.

"Wait! Don't leave again without telling me who you are! Why is all of this happening?! What is the meaning of the visions I had back then!? All of them have become real!"

Pedro Namikaze looked worried and anxious, but the holy sage was quite calm, just like Hiruzen used to be. He even showed a minor smile and said a few words before he disappeared completely:

"My name is Hagaromo Otsutsuki.

Good luck Pedro Namikaze."

Pedro was left alone in the dark emptiness of the special realm with a thousand questions, just like before. How could this mysterious man know that he had written the diary? How could he know his name? How was that even possible?!

One thing was clear though:

"Hagaromo Otsutsuki? So that is where the letters H.O. came from… still, it is such a strange name. He definitely isn't from our time."

Once more, the dark realm began to disappear and Pedro Namikaze woke up.

He was outside, at the entrance of the Royal Tribe. He was on a bed and Yoninke was there with him.

Yoninke was very glad because Namikaze finally woke up—after one entire day sleeping. However, something bothered him:

"Namikaze, did that thing you do to Dormon with your eye affect something in your head? You have been blabbering strange things in your sleep since yesterday. We already have enough with what happened. Don't go crazy on me now!"

Obviously, Yoninke was worried. What else could go wrong? (Hopefully, nothing.)

"Don't worry… things are just happening too fast Yoninke… I had another vision at the dark place that I told you about… I have to go back to The Leaf in fifteen days. They need me. Something is going to happen there. Besides, I fulfilled my original mission. It is time to go back…"

"No, it is time for you to rest Namikaze. Have you even looked at yourself?! Dormon could have killed you with that slash. You are a really lucky human and the luckiest ninja I know."

Pedro remembered his encounter with "H.O." and also thought about Maida and the sharingan that she left him.

"I wonder… I am starting to feel like most of that luck has been given to me by others."

"Come on Namikaze! You are skilled and very smart, that is why you have been lucky. And I am a mighty gorilla, that is why those villains had a hard time with me."

"Sure you are…" said Pedro Namikaze smiling as he looked at his 1-meter-tall teammate. Then, he remembered something that erased his short-lived smile:

"Yoninke, how is Sarzan? He was wounded like me, wasn't he?"

Yoninke's eyes looked sad.

"I am sorry Namikaze, but Sarzan didn't make it. He helped to save you. He also helped Em to kill Dormon, but he didn't make it.

Tomorrow, we are going to have a burial for all the fallen ones. They are planning to bury Sarzan and the other elites at a monument for the fallen heroes. King Enma said that The Leaf, your human tribe, also has a monument like that, so he wants to make one here too. He will also give a speech at the great burial tomorrow. I will take you there. We must all go."

Pedro Namikaze felt a sudden sadness. Indeed, everything was happening too fast for him. Despite Dormon's defeat and the victory for the Royal Tribe, things at the Human Realm seemed much worse than when he left. Now, he also found out that his second teammate and friend, Sarzan, had died…

He could not waste any time. He asked Yoninke to help him to go to the little house where he had his things at their tribe. Yoninke brought a strange wheelchair—made by monkeys—and used it to take Pedro to his place at the Royal Tribe.

Along the way, they saw how all the survivors were taking away the bodies, reconstructing the whole village, and reviving the place little by little. The sights were very sad, but at least there was great hope. It would take time, but the Royal Tribe was going to stand up again.

Pedro Namikaze's small house wasn't in good condition after the invasion. However, most of his belongings were there. He asked Yoninke to find the diary, the headband he used, his old clothes from The Leaf, and the ink and feather that he used to write in the diary. Yoninke found all the things that he asked for and he also told Pedro that he had his original sword as well. It had survived all the battles and Yoninke kept it for his human friend.

Pedro knew that he had to recover as much as possible in the following two weeks, before his return. He planned to use his old clothes from the times when he trained with Hiruzen. Also, he was going to write more in the diary. His secrets and his experiences from sage training were there, but he had not written anything about Dormon or Hagaromo yet. He planned to do it. He wanted the notebook to be more than just his training tales. He knew it could be used to teach what he had learned to other ninjas at The Leaf, and that had been one of his main reasons to write it. The knowledge he had gained was too important and it had to be saved somewhere else (besides his mind), in case he could not pass it to others at The Leaf…

(His special S-ranked mission was to learn how to become a sage and to pass that knowledge to the new generation of ninjas at The Leaf.)

Next day, Yoninke and Pedro went to the gigantic earth plains, outside of the Royal Tribe, where all the fallen would be buried and where King Enma was going to give an important speech for the Royal Valley and its monkeys. (The reason why it was called the "Royal Valley" was because it was the location at their world that had the largest earth plains and valleys. It didn't have large forests either.)

Pedro and Yoninke were at the front of the large gathering of all the survivors. There were close to two-hundred-and-fifty monkeys. Their sizes varied; many were small monkeys like Yoninke, some were like apes, and a few were big gorillas.

Everyone was seeing Yoninke and the human as heroes, but both of them were quite humble about it. They didn't make a big deal—or any deal—out of it. Simply put, they were happy that they had been able to help save the tribe. However, it was hard for them to look happy because they were about to bury a good old friend, other fellow elites, and many other fallen monkeys. Most of them were innocents that didn't ask, or even expect, to be invaded by Dormon and his tribes of savages. All of that was over, thankfully, but the pain of the lives lost wasn't gone. It would take a while for them to heal completely from what happened there…

With everyone's effort, the bodies were buried and what began looking like a mess of an earth graveyard, ended up looking like a worthy place to honor the memories of the fallen. King Enma wanted it to look like the one at The Leaf, which he knew because of Hiruzen. The one at The Leaf looked beautiful and it didn't give the feeling of death; on the contrary, it felt like a holy place that honored their heroes.

Pedro Namikaze couldn't help them because he had to recover from the surgery. Unfortunately, the monkeys were not advanced in healing techniques that used chakra to cure and regenerate tissue, like the medical ninjas at The Leaf could do. Therefore, his recovery was going to take longer. He only hoped that he could stand and walk well before he had to go back to The Leaf. Naturally, he was going to make recovery his priority until the fifteenth day arrived…

King Enma began his speech. His heart was sad because he had lost two sons, many friends, and half of his whole tribe, but he knew that everyone had to be encouraged to move forward. He said inspiring words for the recovery of the Royal Tribe. However, nothing was a big surprise, until he reached the end of his talk and revealed his final decisions.

Enma looked at Em, who was at the center of the crowd, and revealed the change that he had decided for a new Royal Tribe:

"Em, my middle son, you will be the new king of our tribe from now on. You are ready and I know how much you care about this tribe. Yoninke is going to be your first elite guard. This is my last decision as the Sixth King of the Royal Valley."

Em and the others were really surprised. No one expected that Enma was going to do that, even if Em was a great candidate to be their next king.

Furthermore, Enma continued with something that was even more surprising than his resignation as king:

"I am also sorry about the deep hate that I expressed toward humans for years. A human saved us during the invasion; a human that has lived with us and been our friend for the last two years. He made me realize that my hate was not against humans, but against evil doers. Our friend Namikaze is not one of them. Zet, the one who killed the previous king, was one. My son Dormon was one too. He wasn't a human, but his mind was wrapped in darkness like Zet's.

From now on, the new king and all of you will help other humans that are like Pedro and not like Zet. That way, the horrors from evil doers will be decreased and eradicated at both realms. What really matters is not that we are monkeys or that they are humans, but that we care about justice and doing what is right. Any of you who can fight for justice will come and sign your name on our new summoning scroll for our friend Pedro Namikaze. He will able to call any of us if he needs us. And all of you will have the chance to meet and befriend other humans from his human clan, The Leaf."

Pedro Namikaze was amazed with what Enma did. This wasn't the same King Enma that nearly killed him when he arrived at the Earth Realm. He had changed… for the better.

Most of the survivors signed their names on the large scroll that Enma opened. (This new scroll looked like sage Naruto's large scroll from the Realm of the Toads in Naruto Shippuden.) Pedro's previous scroll was small enough for it to fit inside a pocket and it only had three names: Enma, Yoninke, and Sarzan.

By the end of Enma's speech, the new scroll had more than one hundred names. Everyone signed it, including Em, Yoninke, and Enma himself. Basically, the human earth sage could now summon almost anyone from the Earth Realm's Royal Valley…

Enma finished his speech:

"There is still much work to do. We have to rebuild everything. We may also have to hunt any rogue monkey that wants to follow Dormon's teachings. We must ensure that a second Dormon never rises to power again. There is a lot to do, but our tribe and our realm will make it."

Enma's speech was very well-received by all. By then, Enma already knew why Hiruzen had told him that his life and even the Earth Realm itself would be saved and changed by the earth sage of The Leaf. He knew what Hiruzen meant when he said that he (Enma) had to help this human to become a sage, leaving his hate for humans behind. He also understood why Pedro Namikaze was going to make a change that involved both the Royal Tribe and The Leaf. All of it made sense now; and Enma himself was the one that made the change, but it was all possible because of Pedro Namikaze.

Everything was starting to make sense…

The day of the burial and Enma's speech were very memorable for Pedro and for the ones present there. Only Yoninke had something to remember from that moment that he didn't like at all. It was his father's comment:

"Well done son, you will be the first guard for the new king! You are going to make even more than the medics now! And the young ladies that survived will be making a line for you. Your ninja nonsense paid off after all!"

Yoninke was glad about his father's survival from the invasion, but he realized that their way of thinking was worlds apart…

The truth was that Yoninke wasn't doing it for compensation (goods or money) and he wasn't doing it to gain fame or to impress others. He did everything because being a "mighty" ninja was what he truly loved. It was being his true self. It also allowed him to do the right thing for his realm. Unfortunately, he knew that his father's way of thinking wasn't going to change…

The days before everything changed for Pedro Namikaze started with the second encounter with the holy sage, and continued with King Enma's great speech.

After the second day, Pedro Namikaze focused on his recovery. He tried to enjoy every moment he had left there because he felt that he was not going to come back to the Earth Realm for a very long time. He couldn't shake off that feeling.

In addition, he told Em, Enma, and Yoninke about his need to return to the Human Realm very soon. Even though they didn't like that he was going to leave so soon, they respected his decision.

Despite all that happened, Enma decided that he wasn't going to tell Pedro Namikaze about Hiruzen's death at the hands of the rogue ninja Orochimaru. Enma thought that Pedro was going to get the grim news anyways, as soon as he returned to The Leaf. (Thankfully, Orochimaru's fierce attack at The Leaf had been subdued, but the old Third Hokage couldn't beat Orochimaru in their battle.)

Pedro Namikaze also wrote more in the diary where he had kept the history of what he did and what he learned at the Earth Realm. Before the last day came, he finished writing all he wanted to add to the notebook. He even added things about his lost love, Maida Uchiha. He still remembered her and he still loved her…

When the fifteenth day arrived, Pedro could walk well, but he wasn't fully recovered by any means. He definitely wasn't ready for any serious battle either, but he had to do what Hagaromo told him. The Leaf's future and many other things depended on it.

Enma, Em, and Yoninke went with Pedro to the place where he planned to use the teleportation summoning to return. It was the same location of his arrival to the Earth Realm, two years ago. (That made them all remember that day.)

Pedro Namikaze had his sword, the training clothes and the headband from The Leaf, and a few other belongings, which included the diary, the book that he had promised the little girl (Shiho, the librarian from The Leaf), and the two summoning scrolls (the large one had everyone and the small one only had Enma, Sarzan, and Yoninke, but it was a meaningful item for him—maybe because it had Sarzan's handwriting on it.).

He wasn't fully recovered, but he was ready and the fifteenth day had arrived.

After shaking hands with the current king (Em), the previous king (Enma), and the future one (Yoninke), the earth sage made Hagaromo's chakra seal once again and prepared the teleportation summoning technique. When he began to see the Human Realm and The Leaf through the sharingan, he focused all of his chakra on the eye and took it to its mangekyou form. He found the location outside of The Leaf and saw the small house that Hagaromo had shown him. Then, he did it again:

"Summoning jutsu!"

However, this time the teleportation felt completely different. It was like a whole new experience. The mangekyou was taking all of his chakra away and he began to feel the same pain in his eye, as he felt when he saved Yoninke and when he used Tsukuyomi.

Yoninke noticed that not everything was right. This looked different than what he had seen Namikaze do before. However, it was too late to ask questions and to get answers.

"Summon me if you need me Namikaze! Just like you did that day!" yelled Yoninke.

After that, Pedro Namikaze disappeared and only air and dust were left behind.

Everything was going to change because he used the mangekyou sharingan to travel back to The Leaf. That made the difference between normal travel and time travel…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Mina


	32. Chapter 32: Mina

**CHAPTER 32: Mina**

Pedro thought that he was going to appear half a mile away from the location that the holy sage showed him, but the kind of travel that he did with the mangekyou sharingan was even more prone to surprises than the normal one…

He didn't appear exactly where he planned. It was pretty reminiscent of what happened to him when he arrived at the Earth Realm for the first time. He was in the air and there was a small and new house directly below him. It looked a lot like the one the holy sage showed him, but that one seemed old and this one looked quite new. Could it be the same one? That didn't seem possible… (It was the same one, 42 years earlier.)

He appeared close to six meters above the hipped roof of the little house. The fall was shorter and it ended much faster than the one at the Earth Realm, but it looked just as disastrous. He began to use a wind shield, but he couldn't complete it before he reached the roof. What really helped him to break the fall were the clotheslines that were tied there, at the roof's center. Someone had tied the right ends of the three clotheslines around a metal stick there, and their left ends on the ground. Who was crazy enough to do that? Why would you even do that when you can place both on the ground?

Pedro had his mind focused on the fall only. He didn't even notice those odd details. What mattered was that landing on those clotheslines and on their clothes would stop his fall. He didn't realize that the clothes hanging there were from a woman because most of them were green ninja vests that were used by men and women at The Leaf (only by those who were elite ninjas). However, he met the owner of those vests soon after that…

He fell from the roof with all those ninja vests and, on the way down, he crashed with a large human-sized ceramic sculpture and broke its head. The sculpture resembled an Anbu ninja from The Leaf, but it was not finished yet. Also, it had been changed recently. Its upper body was soft still, so it broke easily.

In just a few seconds, Pedro Namikaze's sudden arrival and his fall left a huge mess there.

He stood up right away and he realized that he wasn't seeing almost anything with the sharingan eye. It hurt just like before, but something else about it didn't feel right. It felt different. Also, he felt some pain on his abdomen, where he had the surgery two weeks ago. This time, the jump to another realm had left him feeling drained. It was strange, but it certainly felt different than before. Maybe, it was because he had done it using the mangekyou sharingan, just like Hagaromo said he had to do it.

Then, he noticed that someone was there, not too far from where he had landed. He didn't distinguish her face, but he could see that the other ninja there was a blonde woman that was also using The Leaf's green Jounin vest and their headband. These clues meant that she was an elite ninja from The Leaf.

When Pedro arrived, it wasn't clear whether she was leaving her small house or getting there from a mission; what was clear was that she identified the stranger that appeared out of nowhere as an enemy.

In the blink of an eye, she turned around and launched two metal shurikens at him. He had no time for special techniques because she was too fast. Luckily, one of the ninja vests that fell with him was still on his arm, so he only had to move it right away to use it as a shield. He could feel how the shurikens crashed with the vest, very close to where his vitals would have been; and both stayed stuck there. However, the blonde ninja didn't stay still; right when she noticed that her shurikens failed, she grabbed two odd looking daggers from her belt and launched them too. One landed on the ground, close to Pedro, and the other one passed by close to his head, but it ended up on the front door of the little house. At first, it seemed like she had missed her target, but she was very accurate because those were the exact places where she wanted them to be. It felt odd: her shurikens were dangerously accurate; Pedro was lucky that he could use that vest for cover; then, why did she miss with the two daggers?

She didn't waste any time. After the daggers landed where she wanted, she threw her explosive knife at him. This time he had the chance to do something:

"Earth shield!"

The knife exploded on the shield of earth and cracked it everywhere. At the exact moment when it did that, the young woman disappeared and appeared where the second dagger was. She took it from the door and used it as her weapon:

"Lighting-style blade!"

A charged blade grew and extended itself from the dagger.

"Earth hold jutsu!"

Pedro attempted to immobilize her with a hand of earth, but she destroyed it with her lighting blade. However, the blade was gone as well. (Apparently, her lighting style was not too powerful.)

Then, she appeared where the first dagger had landed, which was right behind Pedro. He definitely wasn't expecting that. She was very fast, even for a fast ninja like him.

She delivered a mighty slash with that little dagger that made it feel like she was still holding the lighting blade. Pedro used the same vest from before to block it; he didn't have any time to dodge it. Unfortunately, she followed it with a surprise kick that landed where he had the surgery done.

It was pretty much over after that…

He was nowhere near ready for a serious battle. He had not even recovered from the previous one. And the surgery was still recent, so he felt as if the heavens had fallen on him when that kick landed there. The pain was so bad and sharp that he couldn't stay standing and he started to lose consciousness.

This was the moment that proved that the young blonde ninja was a good person. She had an open and easy chance to kill him, but when she realized that he was already badly wounded from before, she stopped her final attack. (And she still didn't know whether he was an enemy or not.)

As he fell, and as life itself seemed to lighten its hold on him, Pedro got his first clear view of her. Even on the edge of consciousness, he remembered it, when he saw her face…

She was one of the unknown people that he had seen in his string of future memories at the dark realm…

How? How did she manage to move so quickly? It was clearly some sort of replacement technique, but the daggers did not switch places with her. It was a lot like his teleportation summoning technique, but done at a very short distance, so it was strikingly fast. How did she know such a technique and, most importantly, who was she? He never saw her at The Leaf. However, two years had gone by since his departure. Maybe she was new there…

When he lost control of his body, right when he felt that his mind was fading away and leaving him for a while, his last thought was a very interesting question:

"Did the holy sage know that this was going to happen?"

Hagaromo had been the one that showed that location to Pedro, after all…

The woman knew that he had probably fainted, but she was still a little tense. She had been caught by surprise at her own training ground!

"Are you an enemy of The Leaf!? How did you appear here like that? What are you seeking here!?"

He didn't answer any of her questions.

She made a quick seal technique with her hands and her two daggers reappeared there, on their owner's hands, once again. However, she soon realized that she wasn't going to need them. The battle was over and he was badly wounded, but it wasn't all because of her.

When she turned his face to see him clearly, she finally noticed that the blurry emblem on his ninja headband was The Leaf's symbol. How was that possible? Had he killed another ninja from The Leaf? But… he would have kept his clan's headband… was he a spy? If that was the case, he wouldn't have made such a suspicious and sudden appearance in front of one elite ninja from the enemy clan. It didn't make sense to her.

She had never seen him there and she had been born at The Leaf. Moreover, she had lived her 27 years of life there, and she had never seen him before. Even if he was one of the secret agents, she would have known him by now. He had to be a ninja from another clan—she thought.

Soon, she also realized how critical his condition was. He had blood on his stomach—it was visible through his clothes—and on one of his eyes. These wounds were not made by her. Maybe, he had arrived there after escaping another battle.

She still saw the possibility of a threat in him. He certainly was no amateur if he could do a long-range teleportation technique like that. Therefore, she tied him to the closest tree and removed the weapons that he was carrying.

What surprised her the most was the large summoning scroll that he had. It had so many summoning contracts… who was this guy who could summon this many animals from another realm? To make the mystery even bigger, he had The Leaf's headband too. He also had a small backpack with a couple of books, but she didn't pay attention to those at that time.

When she lifted his bloody shirt, she realized how bad things were for him. He had a recent surgery and her hard kick hit him right there. She had to heal him quickly, otherwise he could even die, if he stayed like that for too long.

She thought about it twice and looked at him. He certainly didn't look like a criminal, but she knew that often appearances can be deceiving. Regardless, she thought that saving him was important—maybe he would have valuable secret information for The Leaf. She untied him and took him inside the small house. Then, she placed him on a small bed and tied him there again.

She could not wait for one of the other more skilled medical ninjas because of his condition. She decided to do it herself with the skills she had. She began to cure the open wound on his abdomen and his eye on her own.

When she finished, she was exhausted. She had good medical ninjutsu skills, but she was not a true elite in that arena. She was gifted in sealing techniques, using small weapons for combat, and taking advantage of advanced "battle avoidance" and "enemy confusion" tactics, such as the replacement technique. She also had plenty of knowledge about the lands that surrounded The Leaf. That was one of the reasons why the young Third Hokage, Hiruzen, had picked her. She was one of the elites that was part of the team that guarded the perimeter of Konoha's territory. They had to keep any unexpected visitors at bay; also, they kept the Hokage informed about any strange occurrences in their clan's vicinity.

It's worth noting that, despite her great ninja skills and the advanced combat trainings that she went through, she was still a feminine and attractive woman. However, she was the serious and tough type—think of a good-looking sergeant with a heart of gold.

She was very different from Maida Uchiha, who was a sweet young woman with little experience in training or in serious battles, despite the great power she had in her sharingans. Maida was a medical ninja—emphasizing the word medical—and this blue-eyed blonde was an elite ninja in combat. However, even though they were worlds apart in terms of their personalities, both were good women at heart (and Pedro Namikaze was like that as well). You could say that the blonde became tougher because her position required it and her experiences led to it. But good is still good, even if you are a trained ninja…

Pedro was not going to wake up anytime soon, so she looked at the items that he had. She removed two books from his belongings—the only two books he brought with him. They were Hagaromo's "Ancient Summoning Craft" and his diary from the Earth Realm. Immediately, she looked very surprised when she saw that one of them was exactly like the one she used to learn the advanced seal that she used on her daggers to teleport to their location.

She thought that no other copies of that old book existed, besides the one she found at The Leaf's library. Maybe, this was how he appeared there—she thought. However, he seemed to come from a far place; she certainly couldn't teleport that far with her techniques, not even with the one she learned from that book. (She didn't have the special sharingan, of course.) She also needed to have a dagger or a mark at the other location, even if it was close.

The strange part was that the whole book was handwritten, so the existence of an exact copy was quite unexpected. (There was no such thing as copiers or scanners in Naruto's ninja world.)

She thought she would not find anything more shocking than the large summoning scroll, full of signatures, and the copy of H.O.'s book. She was wrong though. When she opened his diary, the first four sentences read:

"My name is Pedro Namikaze. I am on an S-class mission for the Third Hokage Hiruzen and for our clan, The Leaf. I won't leave the Earth Realm until my mission is completed, which may take years. Here, I will record my experiences at this realm and more, as I continue with the mission…"

That was the biggest surprise of them all. She thought that she knew all the secret agents and all the Anbu elites that worked with the Third. Hiruzen was also a good friend of hers since their childhood. He would have told her about something of such caliber and importance for their clan…

At that time, she was 27 years old and Hiruzen Sarutobi was 28. (Pedro Namikaze was also 28)

Hiruzen had been Hokage since he was in his late teens because the Second Hokage decided to pick one skilled ninja to be his successor, at a time of death and war, and only his pupil Hiruzen stepped forward to take on the task. No one else had the courage to do it. The Second Hokage died during the Second Great Ninja War of the Human Realm, and Hiruzen was The Leaf's Third Hokage since then…

As she kept reading through the diary, she became more and more amazed with what she was finding. This was top secret and extremely valuable information for The Leaf—and for any other clan that could get its hands on it. (Since the First Hokage Hashirama, no one at The Leaf had had "sage powers" and they certainly didn't know how to obtain them.) The diary also started to reveal more and more about the man that brought it with him. He wasn't just writing about what happened to him at the other realm; sometimes, he also mentioned events that he experienced before that and people that he had met.

Was he really a secret agent from The Leaf? (One that even she didn't know about!)

She had to find out, so she closed the diary and placed it in one of the large pockets in her green ninja vest. She left everything else where it was before, except the diary.

She still could not allow herself to trust this stranger, but what she found in his personal book was utterly amazing. It was time for her to find out if Pedro Namikaze was truly a ninja from The Leaf. She was sure that he wasn't going to escape, even if he woke up. She didn't heal him completely, just well enough to stop all the bleeding, and she definitely knew how to make good ties.

Without wasting any time, she headed outside her little yellow house to go find the members of Hiruzen's personal Anbu squad. They would know about Pedro Namikaze for sure.

Before she left, she grabbed her clotheslines from the ground, threw her dagger to the roof, and in a matter of seconds, she appeared there and tied them back like they were before. That looked odd in diagonal fashion, but it was the way she liked to see it and she lived by herself there, so she could do whatever she wanted. Back on the ground, she looked at her artistic masterpiece—the ceramic statue of a ninja from The Leaf. It was left headless after Pedro landed on it.

"Secret agent or not, he is going to have to pay me for this twice! I don't care if he is from here or not. It was almost finished!"

(Clearly, she had a lot of time on her hands living by herself there. Her masterpiece looked really good—it was just missing a head now.)

She left running, in the same fashion that the ninjas from The Leaf used—with hands on the sides. Then, she increased her speed by tremendous amounts by throwing one of her daggers at a far tree, teleporting herself there, and grabbing it back again. Right after that, she did the same thing with the other dagger. She was truly fast with that technique.

The Leaf had not seen a faster ninja than her, until Minato—the future Fourth Hokage—learned and improved her techniques. Minato took those techniques to a whole new level. She was forgotten in later generations, but the fact was that The Yellow Flash of The Leaf (Minato) learned many of his legendary techniques from her…

Her name was Mina.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Young Leaf


	33. Chapter 33: The Young Leaf

**CHAPTER 33: The Young Leaf**

Pedro Namikaze woke up shortly after Mina left her house to find out who he was. It was alarming to realize that his hands and feet were tied pretty well. However, she did not kill him. Maybe she had noticed that he was from The Leaf too. Even though they never met before, he was using The Leaf's headband.

He had to go back to Konoha—The Leaf's largest town—to see the Hokage. He was sure that any misunderstandings would be fixed then. Besides, his original mission was over. He had become a sage and he knew how to pass all that crucial knowledge to others. Returning to Konoha was the only thing left for the earth sage of The Leaf—he thought. However, he didn't know that he was going to play a larger role in the future of his clan and of the Human Realm. Only Hagaromo Otsutsuki knew about it…

Getting rid of Mina's ties was a real pain. He simply couldn't do it through normal means. He had a small earth knife hidden on the bottom side of his left shoe, but he couldn't reach that. He could barely even move. However, he knew one risky method that could work.

During the months of sage training at the Earth Realm, he learned many things—controlling sage chakra was just one of them. He found that if large amounts of sage chakra were transferred to some object outside and if the object did not maintain the chakra's balance, then it began to turn into stone, just like the sage mode user would if he or she didn't balance it correctly. It was a huge risk, but he knew it was the only way he had to escape from those perfect ties.

He began to gather the natural chakra. It took him much longer than at the Earth Realm; apparently, the air at the world of the monkeys was better suited to reach their sage mode faster. It was still possible to do it at the Human Realm; it just took longer to complete it.

When the skin around his eyes started to show traces of brown, he passed all of the natural chakra from his hands and his feet to the ties. Parts of the strong ties turned into stone, but it only happened to certain pieces. This weakened the bonds among them considerably and made it far easier to break the rest of them. Some even fell apart on their own.

Pedro felt much better, even though the surgery was still there. Clearly, she healed him before she left. He didn't know if he could trust her though, so he decided he had to leave before she came back. He saw an Anbu shirt with an armor and an Anbu mask right in front of the bed. Based on what he saw, she had many other ninja clothes, so he chose to take that one to go to Konoha. He would return it to her right after he could see Hiruzen.

It had been two years since he left The Leaf. He didn't know about what happened there during that time because both Enma and Em hid it from him. They thought that it would be better if Pedro found out about those dark events when he returned to The Leaf. Pedro Namikaze did not know about Orochimaru's tremendous attack, which involved the battle of two other clans against Konoha and the summoning of several giant snakes from the Realm of the Snakes. The Leaf was saved and the ninjas of Konoha won, but the dark clash culminated with many losses, including the death of Hiruzen Sarutobi and his closest Anbu ninjas, in a battle with Orochimaru himself.

Orochimaru was the most feared rogue ninja from The Leaf. He was a summoner of habitants from the world of the snakes—where he got his training from the Snake King—and a master of many types of jutsus. He was heartless and pretty powerful, but the true reasons why he grew up from a good kid to such a force of evil—in his adult years—were always unknown to all. His true past and growth at the Rock Realm (the world of the snakes) were a secret that he never revealed. Indeed, it was not convenient for him to reveal that…

Unfortunately, Pedro Namikaze didn't even know who Orochimaru was. If he did, then many things could have changed and fate's course would have been casted, once again, in a new direction…

The Sage of the Six Paths—the holy sage, Hagaromo—had already changed events for the better at the Human Realm, when he sent Pedro Namikaze to the "young" Leaf...

It had been two years without any news of The Leaf, so Pedro thought that wearing an Anbu mask the moment he stepped into Konoha was a smart move—and indeed it was. He planned to remove it as soon as he saw Hiruzen again.

Luckily, Mina's Anbu clothes, the armor, and the mask were a perfect fit for Pedro, which made it look as if they truly were his.

After he had the Anbu gear on, he grabbed his belongings and the large summoning scroll, which was one meter long and twenty centimeters wide. (That certainly didn't fit in a pocket, like Hiruzen's summoning scroll and like the previous one that he got from Enma.) Pedro left the house, but before he left the place, he fixed the mess outside with an earth move-and-hold technique. He also buried the large summoning scroll nearby. He thought it would attract too much attention, since most ninjas knew what those scrolls were used for. Later on, he could come back to get it.

He headed straight for Konoha, but instead of going through the main entrance, he chose to use one of the other routes that the Hokage had shown him before. Moreover, he wasn't stopped by any surveillance Anbu because Mina's house was already beyond that point. She was one of the surveillance ninjas that lived closest to Konoha.

Pedro Namikaze was pretty upbeat. Hiruzen and his Anbu guards had been more than just a master and his training partners; they were good friends. Konoha had been more than another ninja clan and another village. It was the second place that felt like a true home for him and it gave him great hopes for the future.

The first place that made him feel that way was Maida's village, but his time there was very short-lived and it ended tragically. The small Namikaze Clan was just a good distant memory from his childhood. And the Hidden Village of the Stone was never a real home. It had used the few survivors from the Namikaze Clan as new Anbu trainees that they could put at risk in their wars and missions, instead of risking more of their own people. Back then, the Earth Clan of the Stone was very different to what it became years later. Unlike The Leaf, it was a clan that sought war and power over peace and a simpler family life. It never felt like a true home for Pedro and that was why he left it…

There was no doubt about it: Pedro Namikaze thought of The Leaf as his home and as the clan that he belonged to, at heart. It was the place where he was meant to be. It was the clan where his dreams of a war-less life could become a reality.

He walked in there happily and as someone who had been doing that during the last few years. He also had their official ninja gear, so that helped to avoid any suspicions from others. However, it only took one minute of walking inside Konoha for Pedro to realize that The Leaf looked different. It was not the same as two years ago.

The town was almost the same, but he wasn't seeing a single familiar face. It seemed unnatural. There was no way that everyone could have changed in just two years. Something was seriously wrong…

He kept walking in the direction of the Hokage's building. On his way there his upbeat mood changed to a certain degree of concern about the situation. Then, he saw the first clue that surprised him, as if it was one of Yashiro's electric shocks from the days of sage training…

Naruto's favorite fast food restaurant, The Ichiraku Ramen Shop, was not there. Every time he saw the blonde boy, he was eating there. Now, there was a really small cafeteria that didn't even have a name yet. It just had a big poster that said:

"New Food Shop—First Month Specials for All!"

It definitely looked less alluring and inviting than the previous open food place and its super nice owner. Then, Pedro caught a glance of the young boy that was giving out the orders: he looked strikingly similar to the nice owner that he knew and met, when he used to talk to Naruto there. Was he family of the previous owner? Pedro walked up to the boy to find out what happened:

"Excuse me. What happened to the other food place here?"

The boy seemed puzzled at first:

"Sir, you probably mean the other restaurant at the other side, all the way at the end of Konoha. We are the only food service here and we opened just three weeks ago."

Pedro was still looking at where the old sign with the old name was, and he didn't answer. The boy continued:

"I know we don't even have a name yet, but that will change next month. I plan to name this shop 'The Ichiraku Ramen Shop,' after my father Ichiraku. I will paint the name right there. By the way, do you want to make an order sir?"

The boy finished his words with the same exact smile as the older owner that Pedro Namikaze had met there. He was just a boy, but with that smile, he looked exactly as the other owner and he planned to give it the same name too… This was not a coincidence. Slowly, Pedro began to realize what was happening, but it was a little hard to believe at first.

"Thank you, but I can't now. I will be back another day. Good luck with your new food shop; I am sure that it will do very well here."

He left walking faster than before towards the Hokage's office. He noticed that many buildings had changed: they were smaller and less modern. Simply put, the whole town looked very similar, but older. What was going on? It was as if he was seeing the younger Leaf, or The Leaf many years before…

All the faces were new. The only one he recognized was the ramen shop's owner, who looked like a 12 year old boy.

He arrived at the Hokage's building and it was changed too. The one he knew was five stories high and Hiruzen's office was at the top floor. This one looked similar, but it only had two floors…

The biggest surprise so far struck him when he finally looked at the monuments of the four Hokages of The Leaf, on the nearest mountain, at the very end of Konoha:

The face of the Fourth Hokage was gone. It was not there.

The mountain only had three faces: Hashirama Senju, the First; Tobirama Senju, the Second; and Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third. The section of the mountain where Minato's face had been carved was completely untouched.

(Pedro was never told by anyone that Minato Namikaze was the Fourth Hokage's name.)

It was hard to believe, but what happened was starting to become clear to him; he only needed one more proof to confirm it: he had to see Hiruzen. However, his intuition told him that the guards in front of the Hokage's building were not going to recognize him and they would try to stop him right there. He was glad that he was wearing an Anbu mask, but getting into the Hokage's place was not going to work.

He looked around and he saw a woman with a green ninja vest—like Mina's. Right away, he thought that asking her was going to be wiser than asking the guards. She was holding a bottle of liquor and she looked normal.

"Hello there, I am looking for Hiruzen. Have you seen him around here?"

The black-haired woman was surprised at first, but she was drunk and she liked what she saw too:

"Hiruzen? You mean the Third? It's been ages since I hear that; everyone calls him the Third. You must be pretty high up if you call him by first name… I haven't seen you before. Are you one of the secret agents? Your eyes are so beautiful, you should take off your mask."

Pedro realized that the woman was drunk and pretty horny too. Her tone of voice gave it all away. She also changed from surprised to flirtatious in a matter of seconds. She was probably crazy as well—he thought. The red sharingan eye was strange at best and truly terrifying at its worst; there was nothing "beautiful" about it. That was exactly why Maida Uchiha had suffered plenty of rejection with her two sharingan eyes, even though she was a good hearted and attractive woman. Pedro and her mother—Madara Uchiha's daughter—were the only ones who overlooked that from the very start.

He thought he had made a mistake by asking the drunk one, so he was ready to leave.

"Thank you, I have to go now," he told her.

However, when he turned around she gave him a clue to where Hiruzen was:

"Well, he is surely training those three kids now, where they train often. I don't know where that is and… you are going to show me your face next time, won't you?"

The woman began to laugh hysterically after that. She was more drunk than he thought, but, as we all know, drunk people are far more likely to say the truth about what they see and about what they really think…

When she said that, he immediately remembered where Hiruzen, the other Anbu guards, and he used to train. Maybe, they were at the same location now…

He left without wasting any time. This time, he went through the main entrance, but he was leaving, rather than arriving; and Konoha was a large town, so he didn't find any resistance or any suspicious guard that could stop him there.

Close to the exit, he also recognized the face of one of the old ladies he always saw in the mornings, when he left for his trainings with the old Hiruzen. She was a girl, as young as the owner of the ramen shop. His heart skipped two beats when he saw her. It was becoming more clear that he wasn't at the present Leaf.

(Luckily, he had the Anbu mask on because his face showed his full concern now.)

He went to the same location where he had trained with the Third Hokage, which wasn't that far from Konoha. He also started to take precautions to avoid being seen. When he reached the place, he stayed hidden in one of the large trees. He could see everything, even though the tree wasn't too close to the training area. That place was the only thing that had not changed. It was almost like before, and he already knew about the spots that he could use to hide there.

In the open area, he saw a man that looked close to 30 years old. He also saw three kids: a pale black-haired boy with bright eyes, a blonde girl, and one that had odd white hair and red marks painted on his face, under his eyes. The second boy's hair and the way he looked reminded Pedro Namikaze of Jiraiya, the sage of the toads that challenged him at The Leaf, during the Hokage's test. Jiraiya had the same odd-looking type of hair as that boy.

Soon, Pedro Namikaze found out the truth…

When he saw Hiruzen's face, he recognized him right away. Hiruzen looked much younger, but it was him. He was not wearing the Hokage's vest or the hat, but there was no doubt about it: this was the same old Hokage that Pedro knew. The way he conducted the beginning of their training even reminded him of his own.

"Today we are going to do something different. After the previous trainings, I want to see how well you can avoid a stronger opponent and his tactics. Use everything I have taught you so far. I will summon the one you call the angry monkey. He is more powerful than you think. Today, you have to take away from him what I am going to hand him. Then, without attacking him directly, make sure that he doesn't take it away from you. Use avoidance tactics, as I taught you."

The young Hiruzen thought that this "training" was going to be fun and challenging for them.

"Yes! That angry monkey trashed me last time, so I am getting him now!" yelled Jiraiya with enthusiasm.

"Master Sarutobi, I don't think this is a good idea. The monkey king doesn't like humans," said Orochimaru, the pale boy. Then, he added:

"But, I will complete the training."

The pale boy looked harmless, but he was the most skilled of the three young students that Hiruzen had.

Tsunade, the blonde girl, didn't mind doing that training, but she tended to agree with Orochimaru, who was smarter than Jiraiya.

Hiruzen summoned Enma:

"Summoning jutsu!"

Enma was tall and strong-looking, but he didn't look evil at all. Also, he looked much younger, just like Hiruzen.

"Why are you calling me here!? I am busy! WHat, these rascals again?! Or, is there a bigger enemy nearby?"

"Enma take it easy. I just want to share this with you. I know it is your favorite."

Hiruzen handed two chocolate bars to the young monkey king. Then, Jiraiya and Orochimaru took them away from his hands in the blink of an eye. Tsunade didn't like the look on the big monkey's face, so she stayed away from the whole thing. Besides, she knew that a single punch from her would probably leave him disabled. She wasn't good at jutsus, but her strength was abnormal for a little girl. It is believed that she had such strength not just because of her temper, but also because she was the grand-daughter of the legendary Hashirama Senju (the First Hokage and one of the founding fathers of The Leaf).

Enma chased Jiraiya and Orochimaru everywhere. He was mad and he didn't like kids—much less human kids—so he began using earth jutsus to catch them.

Orochimaru blocked Enma with water, fire, wind, and even earth jutsus.

Who was that kid that could use more than three types of elemental techniques as if they all were his primary type? Pedro Namikaze had never known anyone who could do such a thing. Hiruzen could do it too, but he never revealed that to Pedro. Moreover, even Hiruzen and other legendary ninjas in history could only use three or four types of elemental techniques; and that was already a sign of superior talent for chakra-based techniques.

Orochimaru was different. He had been born with the unique ability to learn and master any type of elemental technique as if it was his most compatible type. Basically, he had primary compatibility with all types. This was the equivalent of saying that Pedro could be as good as he was with earth jutsus with all other types of techniques as well. Only the Sage of Six Paths (Hagaromo Otsutsuki) had been able to do such a thing before, but he was the one who created, shared, and spread the use of all chakra techniques at the Human Realm. Therefore, it made much more sense that he could do it…

In that sense, Orochimaru was one of a kind in the history of the Human Realm. That was why it was decided that the Hokage himself had to train the boy. That was also the main reason why the Snake King chose him…

Ultimately, Enma lost his patience and he began to attack the boys seriously. He caught Jiraiya with a hand of earth and was about to hurt him for real, but Orochimaru stopped him. Then, Orochimaru summoned a large white snake to fight the monkey king.

Instantly, it reminded Pedro of the deadly white snake from his visions. This one was not the same one and it was much larger, but they were related in some way. They certainly looked alike. Enma was angry, furious, and hard to deal with, but he didn't look evil. This summoned snake, however, looked like a focused assassin.

Hiruzen stopped it all. He recognized the snake as a true threat, so he immobilized it:

"Earth-style hold jutsu! Rock-style prison!"H

The snake's body was caught by the ground and its head got stuck between four large rocks that collapsed around it and fused together. However, it started to get away little by little.

"Orochimaru! Send it back now!"

Orochimaru obeyed Hiruzen and cancelled his summoning, sending back the huge snake to the Rock Realm. The snake disappeared.

Likewise, Hiruzen said sorry to Enma for what happened and sent him back. (It is no wonder why Enma ended up disliking humans. First, Zet Otsutsuki killed his grandfather, and now the kids were stealing his stuff... and his friend Hiruzen wasn't a saint either…)

After that, Hiruzen walked towards the pale boy.

"Orochimaru, how many times must I tell you? Do not depend on the snakes for power. Find your own strength and leave your summons as a last resort measure. They don't seem reliable either, as many other summoned animals I have seen. Do not befriend them and avoid using them. I know it is great that you can use such an advanced technique at your age, but these snakes you summon cannot be trusted."

Hiruzen looked very concerned and Orochimaru was truly sorry.

"Please forgive me master Sarutobi, I won't do it again."

The pale boy sounded sorry and a little sad as well. His face was the face of a kid that was truly good, despite his wrong judgments.

"I won't involve Enma again either. It wasn't a good idea; you were right about that," conceded Hiruzen.

Jiraiya laughed and disagreed:

"I kind of liked it. I would do it again. The monkey king's face was priceless! Although being able to summon allies like you two would be even more fun. I hope I can do that someday. I would like a different type of animal than snakes and monkeys though. Something more fun!"

Their training was disastrous that day, but it was not like that most days.

Pedro would have never guessed that Hiruzen would have thought of such a training with Enma. Pedro always saw him as a strict, serious, honorable, and likeable master, but he was 70 back then. Apparently, at 28, the Hokage also had room for other "fun" and crazy trainings for the kids. It wasn't pure cut-throat ninja training 100% of the time, especially for the young kids, and especially at The Leaf.

Pedro was very close to jumping there and greeting them, but he began to think about the serious consequences. This was the past and he was from the future. Even the slightest change done by him could change everything. And even revealing himself there could end up bringing such a change. Besides, he had no way to tell if it was going to be good or bad for the future. He had visions of the future, but he didn't have the holy sage's ability to see what was going to happen, before it became real.

When he was in the middle of those thoughts, he realized that any changes he made in the past could even be dangerous for the future. He decided he had to go back to Mina's place to get his large summoning scroll; and he was going to leave as soon as possible, using the mangekyou sharingan, once again. Quietly, he left that place and left the young Hiruzen and the three kids behind. He was headed to Mina's house, which was very close to where he buried his scroll.

When he arrived there, he used a minor earth rising technique to get the large scroll back. He cleaned it. Then, he was ready to leave the past. However, before he could begin the teleportation summoning, someone punched the Anbu mask away from his face, grabbed his arm, put a knife on his neck, and pushed him to the ground. It all happened way too quickly.

It was Mina and she was very aggravated:

"There is no Pedro Namikaze of The Leaf and there is no such thing as a sage mission to the Earth Realm! You should quit as a spy and become a professional storyteller instead. You are from a small branch of the Earth Clan of the Stone that is known as the Namikaze Clan. The Stone's Clan and its allies were our biggest enemies in the last war!"

"How do you know all…"

He didn't even finish the question and she answered it:

"I looked through the book that you wrote. Pretty interesting stuff, but it was all just to get closer to the Hokage, wasn't it?!"

"I can prove to you that all of it is the truth. I became an earth sage and I came back to The Leaf now. Whatever-your-name-is, please listen to me."

She got even more mad when she heard that:

"My name is Mina! Whatever-your-mission-is, I am going to stop it!"

She began to press the knife harder on Pedro's neck.

"Mina… how do you think that I escaped from your flawless ties? It was because of what I learned at the Earth Realm. None of our techniques here can do that."

That made sense, but just the fact that he had been able to escape those was another reason to worry about for Mina. Then, he said the words that truly shocked her:

"I am from the future Leaf and I was coming from the Earth Realm when I landed at your house. That is why I have The Leaf's headband and this summoning scroll from the other realm. All of it is the truth."

"Enough! Your lies are out of this world!"

She could not allow herself to believe it.

"So you really think that I would write 250 pages in a diary just to fool someone? I am not even a good writer! It was the only way I had to pass that information to the people at The Leaf!"

Everything he said made sense, even if it sounded as if it was taken straight from a science-fiction novel or a fantastic tale. The truth is that not believing him was difficult, but it was Mina's job to avoid believing or trusting those that could be enemies of The Leaf.

At that moment, she looked at her house, which was already visible from there. She saw that everything was in order. The mess he made had been cleaned. He also noticed that she was looking towards the house.

"I fixed all of it before I left; it was the least I could do for someone who chose to cure me and save me, instead of killing me. I also planned to leave your Anbu gear here before I left."

The truth was that a real spy would not have cleaned the mess on the enemy's yard. It wasn't necessary and it would take away precious time from the escape. Things were not adding up…

Mina became more calm, but she never let her guard down. She removed the knife from his neck and allowed him to stand up. At the same time, her lighting blade rose from the knife she was holding and she grabbed one of her two special daggers with her other hand.

"Prove to me that everything you say is the truth."

Pedro grabbed the large summoning scroll, opened it, and looked at Yoninke's signature.

"I will prove it to you."

He prepared the Earth Realm's summoning seal and, with the scroll open, he did it:

"Summoning jutsu! Yoninke!"

However, nothing happened. No one appeared there…

This finally proved to Pedro how grave his situation truly was, and he had not even realized the worst part yet…

He could not summon Yoninke because Yoninke had not been born yet. He realized that the young King Enma was probably the only one that he could summon, but doing so would throw the future out of balance. He didn't know what changes it could bring, and he felt that it wasn't a good idea to do it.

Mina began to get impatient, but he quickly showed her something that she didn't expect: Hagaromo's special chakra seal for the summoning that only the special sharingans could perform. She had never seen such an advanced seal and she knew about those techniques. This was the seal that he had learned from the secret Uchiha stone that only a selected few were destined to find.

However, something truly worrisome happened this time: he wasn't seeing anything with the sharingan. In fact, it felt like he didn't have it at all. The sharingan was not working either. This alarmed him very much and Mina noticed that something wasn't right for him.

"So you can't prove anything then?"

Pedro thought of an answer quickly. She was the only one who had seen him so far, so he really needed to have her on his side. (The ramen shop's boy saw him with a mask on and for just one minute.)

"I don't seem to be able to summon or to use the sharingan, but I can show you the sage mode that I mastered at the Earth Realm."

Mina looked puzzled and was finding it difficult to believe him now. He did not have any sharingan eye from what she could see. She had seen those before from Kagami Uchiha—a friend of hers and Hiruzen—so she knew what those looked like.

"I can't believe you if you can't show me anything."

Pedro sat down and, for a few seconds, he tried to forget about everything to concentrate solely on the sage mode. He began to gather sage chakra…

After a few minutes, Mina lost her patience.

"You don't seem like a threat, but your ability to dish out interesting lies is extraordinary. I am sorry Pedro Namikaze, but I am turning you in as a spy that entered The Leaf's territory."

Then, it happened: the color of his eyes changed to yellow and the skin around them changed to brown. He was different now.

Suddenly, he raised the ground where they were standing and several hands of earth came from it. Two of them grabbed Mina before she thought about using her daggers. Things had taken a sudden turn.

Now she was worried. He was an elite that was far more powerful than he looked. And she could not escape the earth hands. However, he lowered the ground back and placed her safely on where she was standing before.

"This is barely scratching the surface. The sage mode can do much more than this. It is a truly fearsome power that needs to be in the right hands only. I hope that you believe me now Mina."

As he finished talking, he closed his eyes and they returned back to normal.

Mina was perplexed, but now she started to believe in his "stories." Everything was, in all likelihood, the real deal and the truth. This was why someone like him had chosen to write it. It was too great to keep it to himself. And recording it in that diary was the only way he had to save it for others, in case he couldn't teach it himself at The Leaf.

"I need your help Mina. I have to return to my time, but I need to figure out why the sharingan isn't working. I must avoid contact with others, until I am ready to go back, which will be as soon as possible. Do you have any mirrors? I need to see my eyes. My last trip may have affected the sharingan."

She was still a little shocked, but now she believed him.

"Yes, there is one at the house."

When they went back there, Pedro went to see the mirror right away. The worst realization yet fell upon him there, like a rain of meteorites on an unsuspecting world:

His left eye was brown and his right eye was green. Both were normal eyes. He didn't have the sharingan and its power now…

Green was the original color of Maida's eyes, before she awakened the normal sharingan. It never went back to the beautiful eyes she had before, until now…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Uncertain Future


	34. Chapter 34: Uncertain Future

**CHAPTER 34: Uncertain Future**

The loss of the awakened sharingan was something that Pedro never expected. It changed everything for him. He didn't have any way to go back now. The mangekyou sharingan was necessary to make the trip back to the present; without it, the past would become his new present and his only reality. He was not ready to accept the new turn of events at first.

However, realizing his inability to go back wasn't the only impact for him. Seeing the green color around his right pupil also reminded him about Maida Uchiha; it reminded him of how little he could do to save her and her village. He remembered her. The beautiful green eye was a testament of the similar emotional mark that she had left in his life. Because of that eye, he also knew that she had saved him that day (but he didn't know that he had died too).

He thought that things would have been different that day if he had had his current abilities and the power of an earth sage. He believed that he could have defeated the powerful green-haired sage if it was now (obviously, he didn't know what Zet Otsutsuki—White Zetsu—was capable of). The idea of saving Maida, chief Barton, Kenn, Carl, and the rest of their small village, was invigorating. If he could recover the mangekyou, then it didn't seem impossible. He could use it to go back to that day, in the same way as he used it to go to the younger Leaf, in the past. However, he knew he had to go back to his present time first. Everything depended on whether he could reawaken the sharingan or not.

Besides, if he didn't go back, his mission of teaching the secrets of an earth sage to The Leaf would fail. His stay in the past also had the potential to change the present he knew, and that worried him too.

After a long time of looking at his green eye on the mirror, his recent surgery began to bother him again and he had to sit down.

He looked worried, but Mina didn't know what was going through his mind.

"You don't look well. You need to get that wound treated by one of our medical ninjas as soon as possible," pointed out Mina.

"No, don't call anyone else. I will focus on recovering my sharingan to return to my time in just a few days."

"I still have to report everything about you Pedro Namikaze. And you will need the medical attention, whether you want to admit it or not."

Mina seemed demanding, but in reality she was starting to feel concerned about him. He wasn't an enemy—that much was very clear already because he could have killed her before, in his sage mode, but instead, he was careful about not hurting her.

"Mina give me just one week. That's all I will need. I should be able to go back by then, without changing the past too much. Please help me, this is all I ask of you."

Mina wasn't completely sure yet, but she accepted:

"I will give you five days and you will have to sleep on the carpet there. I only have one bed here. After the five days, I will report everything about you to the leaders and to the Third Hokage."

She decided to accept because she wanted to get all the crucial information out of him before he left. She knew that reading his diary and talking to him was the best way to do it. However, she wasn't just thinking as a cold-blooded ninja protector, she was also seeing Pedro as an ally now. That was why that night she healed more of his wound, as she had done before. She wasn't an advanced medical ninja, like Maida, but she knew enough to make a difference.

The next day, Mina began to read the whole diary.

She couldn't put it down. It was far more interesting than she thought. And it really had tons of great information about the owner, and about what he did to become a sage at the Earth Realm. It was valuable information for The Leaf, but she also became more and more curious about Pedro as she kept on reading about what happened to him. Before she knew it, she had spent most of her day reading on a tree. She really slacked off in her surveillance duties that day, but she read one-third of the whole thing.

When she returned, she wasn't seeing him with the same eyes as before. It was incredible what this guy had been willing to do for The Leaf after just half of year of being there. He was more passionate about the clan and its ideals than many of its current members, who had lived there their whole lives. In that sense, he was a lot like Hiruzen. It was also incredible that her childhood crush and her life-long friend—Hiruzen—was still the Hokage at 70. She would have thought that a Fourth Hokage would have taken the position long before that. (And indeed, he did, but the Fourth died to save The Leaf from the Nine-tails beast, its Uchiha master, and their massive attack on Konoha. After that event, Hiruzen stepped up again, as The Leaf's trustworthy leader. He was the Hokage ever since.)

When Mina returned, Pedro didn't look happy at all. He had spent the whole day trying out different ways to reawaken the sharigan—his green eye. Nothing had worked. There wasn't even the slightest indication of success towards his goal. He didn't even know if re-awakening the sharingan was possible.

Pedro spent the day outside of Mina's house trying different things, but by the time she came back, late in the afternoon, he had not seen any results.

She hid the diary from him and chose not to alert the others about his presence yet. She had to read the whole thing before he left. On one hand, it was valuable for The Leaf. On the other, she also wanted to find out more about him.

That night she healed his wound again. It woke him up, but he stayed calm and still.

"Don't move. This is necessary if you don't want to see one of the medics."

He could feel that it really felt much better than before. In fact, it was almost healed completely.

"Thank you Mina. I wish I could repay you."

"You will repay me by answering any question that I have."

She finished and went to sleep, but he stayed thinking for a while. He didn't want to reveal too much about the future to her, but, because of what she had done, he had to give her some answers…

The next day, he went to a small lake that was very close to Mina's house. He hoped that seeing his eye reflected on the water was going to help him to reawaken its power. He planned to remember how he felt when he awakened the mangekyou sharingan; then, he would use those memories as the motivation and the trigger to awaken it again…

Mina couldn't wait to read more of his diary. That day, she read much faster than usual. She almost finished the whole thing. She found out that his green eye was from Maida, the Uchiha woman that he couldn't save—and, apparently, his girlfriend. It was a red sharingan eye before she (Mina) met him. She also learned that the small summoning scroll he had was given to him by Enma, the old monkey king. She knew Hiruzen's summon, so she quickly began to put the pieces together. He was saying the truth. It was not a made up story. However, she had not reached the end yet, so she still didn't know how he got the large summoning scroll; and there were many other details about his life before The Leaf that he had not mentioned.

She continued and, without realizing it, she ended up reading the whole thing to find out more about him, rather than to gather secret information for The Leaf (which was her true duty).

When she came back that day, he looked disillusioned. Once again, nothing had worked to regain the sharingan's power.

Both, he and she, were outside the house, and they had just arrived.

She handed the diary to him and he realized right away that she had read it—all of it.

"You have been through amazing things with the sharingan Pedro. Reading it has left me speechless."

Mina smiled, but it was barely noticeable, since she was serious almost all the time, so a big smile was not her thing.

"I have… my life has not been the same since she gave me the sharingan."

Pedro began talking with a great smile, because what Mina said reminded him of Maida, but by the time he finished saying that, the smile was gone and he looked somewhat sad.

Mina was impacted by what she had read and by the way he felt about it.

"Such a great love… it must have been great," said Mina, with an air of wonder in her voice.

"It was…"

Pedro glanced at the Sun, as it left the horizon, and then, he looked back at Mina.

"…but I couldn't save her. And it looks like I won't be able to complete my mission for The Leaf either."

He tried to cheer himself up, but there wasn't any reason for him to smile again. Having Mina's support was probably the only good thing he had at that moment.

She saw him pretty differently, however. In her mind, he was a hero and a success. He was one of the agents from The Leaf that was worthy of admiration.

She hugged him and said:

"You didn't fail the mission. You came back to The Leaf with all the information that we needed. Thank you."

She left him, without saying anything else, and went into her house after that. Then, he knew that he could trust her. He began to feel for the first time that meeting her had been the only good thing about falling in the past. However, he wasn't ready to give up yet.

The next two days, he kept on trying and trying relentlessly. Nothing ever worked, but he kept trying. It became clear that he could not awaken the sharingan; and if there was any reliable way to do it, he didn't know it. Finally, he had to accept that he was not going to go back. He couldn't do it without the special sharingan. That afternoon, his eyes got very wet when he looked at their reflection on the lake, before he left. He thought that he would never go back to the world he knew. He didn't think that he would see the monkeys from the Earth Realm again either.

Mina could see his pain, since she had been spying on him. She had already forgotten about the five-days deadline that she gave him before, but he had not; he knew that the next day was the last one…

When he came back, at 6 p.m. of the next day, he sat down with Mina to eat as usual. He wasn't talkative like he was the previous days. He had been thinking about what to do next, now that he knew he had to stay in the past. His future was very uncertain. Everything had changed for him, since the moment when he appeared there. He wondered what Mina thought, so he asked her an unexpected question:

"Mina, have you ever thought about your future? Do you know where it is headed? Have you made the future that you wanted for yourself?"

She stopped eating and thought about many things at once. Her future seemed predictable at first sight, but, it was just as uncertain as his:

"I haven't really thought about that Pedro. Years ago, I wanted to be the first legendary Anbu ninja from The Leaf who was a woman. I had too many silly dreams in my mind back then. I even enlisted myself as an Anbu, but Hiruzen denied it and he assigned me to the surveillance teams instead. He said that I would get myself killed quickly as an Anbu agent because I take too many risks in battle. He probably just wanted to protect me, since he has known me for many years.

That was seven years ago and I have been one of the trained ninjas that protect The Leaf's borders ever since. It seems predictable, but I really don't know what will happen to me tomorrow. In these times of conflicts among the large clans, a new enemy may come to attack us any day, and the surveillance ninjas are likely to be the first ones that face the new danger. Most of the time, everything is quiet, but I don't really know if I will be alive by the end of the next day. In that sense, my future is as uncertain as the future of all ninjas, including yours.

However, I am serving The Leaf, I have my own house, I have some spare time for my hobbies, and I am doing the only thing that I am good for, which is using my daggers for the sake of my clan.

I don't have any other choices now, so the future is set for me, even if it is uncertain…"

Mina was self-confident and skilled, but she never looked happy. She was also far too serious, considering how pretty and lucky she was. (A blue-eyed ninja blonde with great skills as hers was not a common sight at all. She was also from one of the best clans from the Human Realm—The Leaf.) In that sense, Maida was very different. Maida managed to keep a happier look, even though she had been less lucky…

Pedro Namikaze was a strategist, in battles and in life. Not knowing where he was headed next was something that he wasn't used to. He couldn't see the future, like Hagaromo Otsutsuki, but he had to know what future path he was headed for. It was his nature, even before he had the sharingan eye. He couldn't accept an uncertain path that he knew nothing about, and much less a subpar one that he didn't even pick for himself. He felt that the later scenario was what happened to Mina. She wanted to be an Anbu agent, but that path was closed, so she stayed as a surveillance ninja, even though she had potential for much more. She even had an Anbu uniform (the one he used) at her house and was making an Anbu ninja statue, so, obviously, she never forgot about that dream…

Pedro also had the ability to perceive what was better for others and for himself. (Maybe, that was what led him to The Leaf from the start. It was also what led him to do all the things he did. He felt that it was the best path for him.)

He already knew what he was going to do, but he felt that he wanted to do something for Mina before he left. He had noticed many things about her, such as the fact that she wasn't very happy, even with her looks and her superior skills. He believed that he could help her to see a better path before he pursued his. Unfortunately, he missed one thing. He had not noticed that what she really needed wasn't just a change of duty; it was love—the kind of love that was real and pure like his and Maida's had been. That element had been lost from Mina's life for many years. She had been rejected by Hiruzen, just one month before he married his wife. That had been five years ago and since that time she didn't go out with anyone. Even before that, real love never knocked on her door…

Pedro replied to her:

"You are wrong Mina, there are always other choices, and using your daggers is not the only thing that you are good at. You are an amazing sculptor like no other. You should be in charge of doing the next giant monument for the future Fourth Hokage, when that time comes. I am sure that your talent would come in handy for that. And they will surely need some Anbu-level ninja in their team."

She wasn't expecting that reply and, truth be told, she had never thought about it either. Her, doing something related to her hobby instead of being a surveillance ninja? It sounded surrealistic, but it felt possible and interesting. She liked his idea, but he also reminded her about something else:

"That's right, you broke my masterpiece when you arrived. I had forgotten about it, thank you for reminding me. You will have to repay me that, and giving me advice and ideas doesn't count as payment."

Mina looked and sounded foxy. She also smiled because she didn't really mean what she said. This was uncommon for her, but it was good to see her smile for real at least once. She clearly wasn't a serious cut-throat ninja with no room for smiles or laughter—like Naruto's first master, the copy ninja Kakashi.

"I give you an idea and you ask me for amends?"

Pedro started to laugh because it was obvious that she wasn't saying it in a serious tone.

They continued talking much longer than usual that day. She realized that sharing dinner with him was much more fun than eating alone, as she usually did. She really enjoyed talking to him. She liked his company as well.

It was that night when, for the first time, she thought of him as more than just a friend.

However, nothing happened between them.

The next morning, Pedro gathered his belongings and prepared himself to leave to his destination. This caught her by surprise:

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to continue working on regaining your eye's power?"

"It isn't coming back Mina. I will be staying here, in the past. There is no other choice for me now. I am going to start travelling towards my destination today."

"But, why are you in such a hurry? And why aren't you staying here? Isn't The Leaf your destination?"

"The five days you gave me were over yesterday. I have also decided that if I stay in the past, I will use what I know to change things for the better. I will go back to the small Namikaze Clan to save it from the upcoming conflicts that will lead to its destruction. And once that is done, I will come back to The Leaf."

She didn't agree with him. First, she believed that he had to stay at The Leaf. After all she read in that diary, it was obvious that the place that he truly belonged to was The Leaf. And second, she didn't want him to leave either. She was starting to enjoy having him as company.

"I can let you stay for more days. You don't have to worry about me turning you in now. Even if I did, you can prove that you are one of us too."

"That's not the problem Mina. I know that I can stay here longer, but I also know that the Namikaze Clan, my birthplace, got involved in the conflict that led to its destruction during this time. I can't save Maida's village, but I can save the people from the Namikaze village, if I get there before it all happens. I may even be able to see my grandfather again."

Mina understood him, but she was a little disappointed. She didn't want to see him leave The Leaf.

"But, after everything you did… don't you want to stay at The Leaf? Don't you want to teach others here how to reach the sage mode?"

"Yes, of course I want to do that, but first I have to go to the Namikaze village. I plan to come back with them. I want them to join The Leaf as well."

Mina didn't know what to say; she didn't want to make it look like she was the one that didn't want him to leave.

She grabbed the diary and she was going to hand it to him, but he had other plans:

"Keep it. You already read it and I know you have to report that I was here. That will be enough proof. Besides, I wrote it for The Leaf. Here is where it should stay."

"Why don't you do the same then? If you stay, you can return to the Namikaze Clan with one of our Anbu squads. I know you have your sage powers, but the chances of success will be much better with one of our elite teams."

He could tell that she was worried about him…

"Thank you Mina, but the sooner I go, the better the chances of me getting there before the conflicts with the other clans break out. Don't worry, I plan to come back."

He gave her a friendly hug and thanked her for everything. Then, he left.

Mina felt a little sad and disappointed. Right when she was starting to love having him as company, he decided to leave. She wondered if he only saw her as an ally. Also, was he still in love with the Uchiha woman that saved him years ago? She looked back at the diary and his choice still didn't make sense to her. However, she understood that her Leaf wasn't the one he knew and the Namikaze Clan from her time surely resembled the one that he remembered from his childhood. (In fact, he was going to be born in it just a few years later.)

After a while, she stopped pondering questions about him and left the diary on the wooden table she had inside her house…

Pedro Namikaze's decision was very influenced by the change in the sharingan. He felt somewhat guilty for what happened when he saw the green eye. And, in his mind, saving the small village of earth ninjas where he was born was the best that he could do to compensate for his failure at saving chief Barton's village and Maida.

He had all his belongings with him, including the large summoning scroll, his sword (which was a sword from the Namikaze Clan, a memento from his grandfather), two explosive knives, and a brown cape from the Earth Realm.

After one hour, he arrived at the same location where Maida's village was going to be built. He recognized the place right away. There was nothing there because Barton's father had not arrived with his people yet, but soon that event was going to happen. The beginning of the conflicts that led to the end of the Namikaze village was also on the horizon, but Pedro still had plenty of time to get there.

He stopped walking on the same spot where it all began: the place where he saw Maida's village for the first time, after going through the storm with his wet map. The map was supposed to take him to The Leaf—and it did—but the small village was in the way and the map didn't have it. We know what happened after that…

He remembered the path he took as if it had been just one week ago. He didn't need a map to go back to the Stone Clan and to the Namikaze village, which was as close to the larger clan as Maida's village had been to The Leaf.

After he remembered his arrival and how it all began, the uncertain journey continued, taking the path back to where it had started. Little did he know that he was going to make a crucial decision for The Leaf's destiny and for his own, very soon...

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Mina's Battle


	35. Chapter 35: Mina's Battle

**CHAPTER 35: Mina's Battle**

On the night of the next day, after he left Mina's place, Pedro arrived at a location that was close to halfway between The Leaf and the Namikaze village. He had spent the entire day—and half of the previous day—travelling towards the Clan of the Stone, which was the larger clan where the Namikaze village resided. He had to sleep and rest already, but when he saw the place where The Land of Fire—The Leaf's country—and the Land of Earth divided their territories, he decided that he had to end the day at the other side. It would make him feel even closer to his destination.

However, the place looked different. Last time, there was a strong earth trail to cross from one side to the other. It looked like the two sides were united. Now, what he saw was an old bridge of thin wood pieces tied together by ropes that didn't look very safe. Below it, there wasn't a river and there were no trees either. The ground (fifteen meters below the bridge) was a bed of pure solid rocks. It definitely looked like the passing of people from one country to the other was unwelcome, or even discouraged, if we consider that a bridge in bad shape was the only way provided to put a foot on the opposite side.

The bridge itself was pretty short, so Pedro saw himself at the other side in less than two minutes, and he chose to cross it before resting and sleeping. Unfortunately, the night had fallen already, so he didn't notice how bad that bridge truly looked in some places.

He walked on the bridge and right when he reached its center, he realized how dangerous that thing truly was. It didn't feel like it was going to hold his weight for much longer, and in fact, it didn't. The ropes that were holding the two halves of the bridge at its center let go of each other right when he stepped on that spot.

At that instant, he saw that he only had enough time to grab one of two ropes from the half of the bridge that was closer to The Land of Earth. However, neither of them looked safe at all, and his life depended on whether he could grab the best option or not. At that life-or-death instant, the sharingan awakened again and he grabbed the left rope, knowing that it was the best choice he had available.

The other half of the bridge fell down before it crashed with the wall of rocks that waited for it on the left side of the path. Pedro's half didn't fall down, but it crashed with the wall of rocks that was on the right side. Then, the other rope that he didn't grab fell down, as if nothing was holding it from above. He had to climb up using the ropes and the pieces of wood left. On his way up, he also had to choose the right ropes and the safe spots to step on. He couldn't use any of his earth jutsus because the surface was pure solid rocks; but, he had the sharingan, so he could perceive the right path.

When he finally reached the other side, he was totally exhausted and well-aware of the fact that he had only survived that because the sharingan helped him. It was clear that there was no real crossing between the two countries in the past (like what he saw in his prior present). The bridge was most likely a trap from one of the two sides to add more casualties to the other side. This was the reality of the war-ridden world that Pedro Namikaze had always wanted to change…

He had to stay on the ground at the other side. It was a miracle that he was alive. He was at his limit though. He just laid there on the ground, while he placed his right hand close to the sharingan. There was some blood close to the eye, but it didn't matter, since he was barely conscious when he did that…

He woke up at the Dark Realm that only the carriers of the special sharingan could visit. The holy sage wasn't there, but he could walk freely. For the first time, it felt like he had not been taken there by someone else's will. This time, he was the one that took himself there, after a pretty dramatic reawakening of the sharingan's power—as a last resort measure to save his life.

At the Dark Realm, he wasn't hurt and he felt well. The place truly felt like it was another world, just like the Earth Realm, even though it was empty, lifeless, and pretty odd.

He began to remember what Hagaromo told him before: as the sharingan progressed, he would be able to see views of the future too…

He looked at the dark and clear sky, where the holy sage showed him the location of Mina's house at his present Leaf, and where he had seen the first visions as well. Anxious for knowing the answers that he didn't know, he focused the sharingan's view on the clear dark sky, trying to see what was the next path that he had to take. He wished to reveal his uncertain future; and his wish was granted, as soon as the sharingan turned into its mangekyou form, while he looked at the dark sky above him.

New images, like the previous visions from years ago, began to appear. They showed how he woke up beyond the broken bridge. He could see how he continued his path to the Namikaze village at The Land of Earth—where the Clan of the Stone controlled everything.

Then, that vision of the future on the sky was interrupted and a new one appeared in the same place. It showed what would happen to Mina the next day. When she left her house in the morning, a squad of Anbu ninjas from the Clan of the Stone was waiting for her. Their leader, Grazu, was the one that talked to her:

"Don't make any moves. You are surrounded. You will come with us as a hostage from The Leaf. The other three that were guarding this area are already dead."

Mina immediately grabbed her two daggers to attack. However, the enemy leader was one step ahead of her. He grabbed something from his pocket and, as he raised his hand, it was visible that he had several daggers that were exactly like Mina's.

"Are these what you want to use? Your head was in the clouds with the visitor you had during the last few days, so we replaced them all and you didn't even notice it. You won't be able to use your teleportation technique without these. Our mission is to take you hostage; that is the only reason why you are still alive. We have been watching your movements, so we already know what you are capable of. And the others from your group have been dead for a few days, so they won't come to help you. Neither will the earth ninja that left. He is already pretty far from here, and judging from his techniques, he may be one of us too."

Mina looked at the daggers she had and they were identical replicas that didn't have her teleportation seal on them. Grazu had the real ones, so she really could not use her fastest technique. She was also surrounded, as he said; she counted close to ten other Anbu ninjas around her location.

She could have turned herself in, but she was too hot-headed for that. She realized the leader was close and he had an opening. The others were not as close, so she thought she had a chance to take him down. Two lighting blades grew from the two daggers she was holding and, without any other warning or hesitation, she attacked the enemy leader.

He was good, but he could barely keep her at bay, while he used his two swords to defend himself. She was better and faster than he anticipated, even without the teleportation daggers…

Finally, he managed to keep her still in the same place.

"It's over!" he yelled.

"It doesn't look like it to me, you can barely hold me back!"

Then, one of the other Anbus from their group reached Mina from behind:

"Sealing jutsu! Lighting!

Sealing jutsu! Wind!"

The woman touched Mina and created two seal patterns that appeared on Mina's hips (one yellow and one white). Right away, Mina's lighting blades vanished.

"Good timing Keena!" yelled the leader, Grazu.

"You won't be able to use lighting or wind techniques, which are the two types of jutsus that we have seen you do. They must be your primary and secondary elemental affinities. Now, there is nothing you can do to escape," said red-haired Keena.

Then, Grazu added, looking at Mina:

"You can't win. Turn yourself in and come with us. You will tell us everything you know about the Third Hokage and his clan."

"Never!" stated Mina with anger.

She threw her two explosive knives to her two sides to stop and delay all the other ninjas around her. Then, she launched one of her daggers at Keena and the other one at Grazu. She rushed towards Grazu, but she surprised them, all of a sudden:

"Replacement jutsu!"

Keena blocked the dagger before it hit her, but right after that, Mina appeared there and landed on her with a sideways kick to the stomach and a front kick to the head. Keena didn't block her kicks. Then, Mina did it again:

"Replacement jutsu!"

She had been fast enough to place replacement seals—which were much easier than her teleportation seals—on the two daggers she had, in just a few seconds.

However, Grazu was expecting it, so she couldn't hit him directly, like she did with Keena.

Then, Mina was hit by two knives from the other Anbus in the group. The knives struck her like two unexpected deaths from close family members. One landed on her right leg and the other on her left arm.

Three of the other ninjas landed on her and tried to immobilize her in a great struggle, until Keena's dart hit her on a shoulder.

Their group gathered around her and Grazu spoke. (The leader was the only one without a mask; all the others were using Anbu masks from the Clan of the Stone to conceal their identities. Grazu had a black beard and he was bald.)

"We only use these darts in extreme situations. You should consider yourself lucky because we got specific orders about not killing you. According to our sources, you are the surveillance ninja that has the closest friendship with the Hokage. The secrets you know will be very valuable for our clan. You will come with us, whether you like it or not. And you will tell us everything about the Third."

Mina wasn't showing signs of life after the dart's effect reached her…

Pedro's heartbeat was faster than usual. What he was seeing happened that same day in the morning, which meant that hours had passed after that. He knew she was alive, but he felt very worried about Mina. He saw how they tied her hands and carried her with them in their return trip.

Unfortunately, Pedro Namikaze saw what he feared the most:

The dark sky's reflection of the future showed him how Mina escaped from the ties the next day; and how, in their efforts to stop her, two of the Anbus shot two earth arrows at her. One of the arrows killed Mina.

When Pedro saw it, he felt as if a part of him had died too; but, it didn't end there. He had not seen the worst revelation about the future yet…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Menace from the Future


	36. Chapter 36: Menace from the Future

**CHAPTER 36: Menace from the Future**

In the following vision from the sky, Pedro reached the Namikaze village and he could warm them about the imminent threat, before it happened. He met his grandfather again, who was the leader of the small clan and its earth ninjas. Together they stopped the conflict that would unleash a war among clans at their village's location. However, the war began anyways, at a different location that wasn't close to them.

In the months that followed, the Namikaze village grew in number of people and in power. When other small clans and villages saw what the earth ninjas and their leaders could do, they chose to join them to survive the upcoming war.

The Namikaze Clan continued growing and expanding more and more, until it became the Namikaze Alliance, which was another large clan that was as populated and as noteworthy as the Clan of the Stone.

Pedro Namikaze never forgot about The Leaf, but everything happened so quickly that going back to The Leaf was a choice that he was forced to leave behind.

His grandfather and the people that he helped convinced him about staying there as their leader. He accepted it. Then, Pedro Namikaze became the First Namikage (the Kage) of the Namikaze Alliance.

After that, a fierce war broke out with the Clan of the Stone and many died, including Pedro's grandfather and the few other relatives he had. Those were dark times at the Human Realm, but the First Namikage returned to The Leaf to make an alliance with the Third Hokage. And together, the Namikaze Alliance and The Leaf won the war.

Pedro Namikaze's dream began to turn into reality. The two largest and most powerful clans at the Human Realm were Hiruzen's and his. Their two leaders truly cared about peace and justice, so the state of warfare was halted and times began to change for the better at the Human Realm.

It was then that a silent menace arrived at the Human Realm, but no one saw it coming and no one noticed its growth, until it was too late…

Hiruzen decided to give the position of Fourth Hokage to the most deserving talent of the younger generation. He would remain as one of the clan's leaders, but the true head of The Leaf would be the new Fourth Hokage. The honor was given to Orochimaru, their greatest prodigy. The pale black-haired man was capable of using advanced jutsus of all types and his summoned snakes were some of the most powerful summons ever seen at the Human Realm. Many people didn't perceive him as trustworthy, nor as worthy of being The Leaf's Kage, but Hiruzen still decided to pass the title to his most gifted student. Then, Orochimaru's face was built after Hiruzen's face among the giant monuments of the Hokages on the mountain…

Shortly after that, a new threat emerged. A group of incredibly powerful rogue ninjas known as Akatsuki began to threaten the large clans with a global war, if they didn't hand the nine jinchuurikis of the nine tailed beasts to them. (The jinchuurikis were the humans that had the powerful chakra of the nine tailed beasts and the souls of the beasts sealed within them.)

The large clans refused. Then, the Akatsuki ninjas began to capture the jinchuurikis, one by one. Most of the Akatsuki members died, but eight of the nine beasts were brought back to life, and the Akatsuki masterminds, Zet and Su Otsutsuki, survived. Their ultimate goal was to revive Madara Uchiha and use his rinnegans and the nine beasts to obtain the power of the protector of the Human Realm—the holy sage—so that one of them would be the new omnipotent guide of the realm. The new holy sage would then have the choice to reshape the Human Realm's fate as he considered best. (Clearly, this was going to lead to a final battle between Zet and Su, but it never got to that point…)

Zet and Su found a way to revive Madara Uchiha, in the flesh, and led him to The Leaf, with all the other eight tailed beasts, to capture Kushina Uzumaki (Naruto's mother), the jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails fox. Zet led Madara to believe that he would be the next Sage of the Six Paths and he would create the world he desired once he had the nine beasts, but, in reality, he was just part of Zet and Su's plan. Su wanted to revive and control the most powerful human being, which was his mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki (who was also Hagaromo's mother). And Zet just wanted to be the next holy sage of the Human Realm. At the end, both wanted the same thing: ultimate power.

That day, The Leaf was attacked by Madara Uchiha and the eight beasts, which were controlled by Madara with the power of his rinnegans (the sharingan eye's final form, after the mangekyou).

It was chaos for The Leaf and the clan's destruction was imminent. However, the Third Hokage and all the ninjas of the clan fought bravely to save Konoha. During the attack, the Fourth Hokage Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen. Kushina Uzumaki was caught and the Nine-Tails beast was summoned out of her by Madara. The end of the connection between Kushina and the giant fox led to her death.

After Kushina's death, Hiruzen went into a fierce one-on-one battle with Madara—who was perceived as the mastermind behind the attack by everyone. They fought while the tailed beasts continued attacking The Leaf. However, the power of Madara's sharingans was vastly superior and, at the end, Hiruzen couldn't stop him. Madara defeated Hiruzen as soon as he used the rinnegan's power. He left Hiruzen on the ground, without killing him, and brought the nine tailed beasts with him, outside of Konoha, to initiate the ritual where he would unite them and absorb their power to become the next Hagaromo—the Sage of Six Paths.

The Leaf was practically destroyed with very few survivors. The mountain with the faces of the Hokages was gone as well.

Pedro Namikaze was speechless. He couldn't believe the horror that his eyes were seeing. However, it looked very real and the legends of Maida's grandfather—Madara—described him that way. In the past, only the great First Hokage could defeat Madara Uchiha…

Then, a new unknown figure arrived at the scene—seen on the dark sky. It was a man with a black cloak that covered his body and his face. The man had a small white snake with him, around his waist. The moment when Pedro saw the snake brought him almost as much turmoil as Mina's death… it was the same menacing white snake from his first visions at the Dark Realm. There were no doubts about it.

The unknown man challenged Madara Uchiha to a battle. He executed a grand summoning that brought several giant snakes to the Human Realm at once, and he sent the snakes against the tailed beasts. Then, he extended his hand and the white snake went from his waist to his shoulder, and from there to his hand. The snake transformed itself into a powerful-looking sword, known as the Sword of Kusanagi (in the Naruto universe). The man of the cloak was seen unleashing some strange technique that left the mighty tailed beasts and the giant snakes in a state of mental limbo. Then, he started the battle with Madara Uchiha…

The sky at the Human Realm went all dark, as if it couldn't show what happened. Pedro's sharingan was not a rinnegan, so it was no surprise that he couldn't see everything yet, like the Sage of Six Paths could…

When the visions returned, Madara Uchiha was dead on the ground and the nine tailed beasts were not visible anywhere; it seemed like they were not there anymore. Also, something disturbing was seen: Madara's rinnegan eyes were gone as well. The man of the cloak was holding one of them and the white snake on his waist had the other one in its mouth.

Then, a familiar figure appeared there. It was Zetsu, or Zet and Su joined together in a single body. They separated and Pedro Namikaze immediately recognized them. The white green-haired one was the powerful sage that he fought at Maida's village, and the black one was also there that day (but Black Zetsu didn't give Pedro as much trouble as sage Zet did).

The man of the cloak talked for the first time:

"I expected you two, Zet and Su Otsutsuki. I knew you would come to retrieve the power of the tailed beasts, but you are too late. Now, it is time for you two to return what you stole from me. I waited a long time for this day to arrive."

The unknown man showed them the immensely powerful chakra within him and he placed the two rinnegan eyes in a safe place—they disappeared with some sort of teleportation jutsu. Then, the snake turned itself into the Kusanagi sword once again. And just like before, the sky went all dark at the Dark Realm, but it came back pretty quickly.

The outcome was just as shocking too. The snake remained as a sword, which was bathed in blood. Two men that looked just like Zet and Su were lying on the ground, dead. However, they were also human, unlike before. Zet looked young and had black hair, instead of green. Su was an older bald man. Neither of them looked like their "Zetsu" forms anymore.

The unknown man looked much more tired than before and his cloak had been teared apart in various places, but it still covered his face. There was also blood in one of his arms and in one of his legs. This showed that defeating Zet and Su was much harder for him than defeating Madara, even though he had already absorbed the power of all the tailed beasts. Zet and Su had been mighty opponents indeed, every single time that he fought them…

The only thing left was replacing his eyes with Madara's rinnegans, and that man was going to be as powerful as the Sage of Six Paths. However, he didn't do that yet. He wasn't in a hurry for it because he felt that he had won already, after defeating Zet and Su (the last Otsutsukis left). Instead of using Madara's eyes, he walked towards the place where Hiruzen was.

Hiruzen had been badly wounded, but he was still alive, and he looked happier when he saw the face of the man in the cloak.

"I knew that you would come back to save The Leaf," said Hiruzen, with regained hope.

Pedro Namikaze saw, with increasing worry and dread, how the man began to move his arm aiming the snake sword at Hiruzen. Then, the sword went down in a rush and Pedro couldn't contain his feeling of anguish and powerlessness:

"Noooo!" yelled Pedro Namikaze, as he saw how the man of the cloak delivered a fatal strike to Hiruzen with the sword. Where was he?! (Pedro Namikaze) Why wasn't he there!?

"Why?" asked Hiruzen, with his last breath. And the unknown man answered:

"Because I am not who you think I am, Hiruzen Sarutobi."

The man withdrew the sword, which turned back into its true form, the white snake. Then, he simply left, leaving The Leaf behind, in ruins. His last words as he walked were:

"Today the history of The Leaf ends, but the history of my new Human Realm is just about to begin."

The visions of the future stopped for a while. Pedro was mad at himself and frustrated. Why wasn't he there when all of that happened?

Then, the view continued, showing the leader of the Namikaze Alliance. He was eating, drinking, and pretty much having the time of his life. There was also an unknown woman there who looked like she was his wife or partner.

The actual Pedro Namikaze almost threw his explosive knives at the vision on the sky. He didn't recognize himself. How could he be enjoying himself while the people at The Leaf were dying? It was infuriating. This wasn't his true self.

At that moment, he saw how he received a message from one of his Anbu guards. The message—from an unknown source—read:

"Dear Pedro Namikaze,

I will meet you tomorrow when you least expect it.

An old friend from The Leaf."

It seemed odd. Was it from Hiruzen? The Third Hokage was one of his good old friends and he had not seen him for a long time.

The next day, the Namikage was going with his personal Anbu squad to one of the last new villages that joined his alliance. He planned to give a short "welcome" speech there—nothing too special.

The current Pedro couldn't believe his future-self.

What was he? A freaking ninja politician?!

After promising the new allies tons of good fortunes in his speech, he and his men left. (Indeed, he had turned into a politician.) They headed back to the central village of the Namikaze Alliance through a long and straight road.

In the middle of the way, his future-self turned around, in the vision, and he saw all of his Anbu guards scattered on the grass behind him. They looked dead. There was a man with a black cloak and a white snake standing there. The future Pedro showed great concern on his face when he noticed the snake. He began gathering sage chakra immediately and put one of his hands on his sword.

"Did you receive my message First?

Should I call you First or Mr. Namikage?"

"Neither," said the future Pedro, as he turned into an earth sage.

He added:

"Call me Pedro Namikaze, just like you did before.

Why are you here? And what is the meaning of this?"

The current Pedro was quite surprised. His future-self had reached sage mode incredibly fast, in just under thirty seconds. Apparently, he wasn't just some guy giving speeches and having fun. After all, he was one of the Kages too.

The vision showed what happened from a point of view that didn't reveal the identity of the man with the cloak.

The man removed the black hood from his head and revealed his true intentions, after Pedro's question. Pedro seemed surprised:

"You look very different. What happened at The Leaf?"

"I see you are surprised to see me Pedro Namikaze. The Leaf has been destroyed, but that is the last of your worries now, since the Namikage is about to be replaced as well. Being the leader of your alliance is the shortest path to leading the entire Human Realm, as I wish to do."

"That is not going to happen," replied the First Namikage, while he unsheathed his original Namikaze sword and created five shadow clones that also had the sage mode.

The man of the cloak extended his hand and the snake turned into the lethal sword once more. Then, their battle began, in the open field. However, the vision went very dark and nothing was visible.

When it came back, the Namikaze sword was broken on the ground and the First Namikage was dead, like all the others before him. The man of the cloak walked up to Pedro's body, grabbed the Kage's hat from the ground, and placed it on his head.

"It is done. At the end, I always win… or, actually, we win."

He placed his hand on the white snake as he finished saying that.

The current Pedro felt as defeated as his possible future-self must have felt. This was an unacceptable future and a pretty dark fate. He didn't feel this way just because he died at the hands of a seemingly unstoppable enemy. Parts of him also died when he saw Mina's death, Hiruzen's murder, and the destruction of The Leaf. Now that he knew about those things, he had to do something about them. He had to change the future. And he felt that with his new knowledge, he could do it. He, as the Namikage, and Hiruzen, as the Hokage, would be prepared the next time that this evil force arrived.

However, when he was eager to leave the Dark Realm, a final unexpected vision appeared on the sky…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Pivotal Decision


	37. Chapter 37: The Pivotal Decision

**CHAPTER 37: The Pivotal Decision**

The beginning of the last vision showed him going back to The Leaf, instead of going to the Namikaze village. Then, it jumped to showing how he grabbed Mina's hand. It didn't show what happened in between. And, it only showed their hands, not their faces or what was happening at that moment…

After that, it showed the day when Hiruzen chose the Fourth Hokage, but this time the chosen was not Orochimaru; the new Hokage was a young blonde man.

Another jump occurred on the sky and it showed the day when The Leaf was attacked by Madara Uchiha and the eight beasts, but that event changed drastically as well. This time, the attacker was not Madara, and only one beast was attacking The Leaf: the Nine-Tails fox—the most powerful one out of the nine. Everything seemed different from what happened before…

The new attacker was the Uchiha man of the orange mask that could do strange space-time techniques with his mangekyou sharingan. (Remember chapter 6?)

(In the alternate timeline, Zet and Su never got their hands on the powerful masked Uchiha. However, because of the change of events brought by Pedro Namikaze, they found this guy in the actual timeline, and he became their most powerful ally, before they revived Madara Uchiha. In the actual timeline, Madara's revival happened much later because Zet and Su believed that they could make the plan happen if they could make the masked man awaken the rinnegan first, but that failed. Nonetheless, they began their attack at The Leaf without Madara Uchiha in the actual timeline. The masked Uchiha initiated it for them, thinking that he was the one in charge, just like Madara thought in a past that never happened.)

The new Fourth Hokage used his amazing sealing and teleportation techniques to take the giant fox and the masked Uchiha enemy out of the town of Konoha. By doing so, he simultaneously saved The Leaf and its people. What he did that day led him to become the legendary hero that Pedro had heard about at The Leaf. However, he had to fight the masked man and his mangekyou sharingan, and he had to keep the Nine-Tails beast at bay as well.

In a battle of speed, the Fourth outclassed and defeated the unknown Uchiha, but controlling the violent Nine-Tails proved too difficult, even with the help of its previous jinchuuriki (Kushina). He and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, sacrificed themselves to stop the entire threat. However, during their great feat, they had no choice but to seal half of the monster's astronomic chakra and its consciousness in the body of a baby, named Naruto. The baby was their own new-born son. Minato and Kushina passed away and the baby became the new jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails fox…

Even Pedro Namikaze felt totally heartbroken when he saw what the blonde Fourth Hokage went through to save The Leaf. He sacrificed everything to save The Leaf and his newborn son. Unfortunately, Pedro didn't hear the final words that Minato and Kushina said, so he still didn't know that their infant was Naruto or that the Fourth was Minato—named after his mother, of course.

After the Fourth Hokage's feat and before the final vision ended, it showed the guy of the black cloak again. Apparently, he was also in the actual timeline…

The mysterious man was at the basement where Pedro Namikaze had found the first of the two Uchiha stones. There were four other people with him and one of them was Sasuke, the Uchiha kid from Naruto's team. Sasuke Uchiha looked much older—about ten years older—and taller. He was a young adult now.

The man of the cloak was also preparing some sort of strange summoning technique. It surely wasn't anything good…

What Pedro didn't like seeing, however, was that Naruto's friend was with that guy.

Was Sasuke in the good side or the bad side? It was hard to tell for Pedro, based on the few times that he had seen Sasuke.

It didn't matter though. The visions stopped completely at that point because Pedro's mangekyou sharingan went away and the eye returned to its initial form. He had used it for far too long.

The Dark Realm began to disappear as it had done before. He was going to go back…

When he opened his eyes, he was still on the ground, beyond the broken bridge. It was already morning-time of the next day and he had not rested well at all, but he quickly forgot about it, as soon as he remembered what he saw at the Dark Realm. He stood up in a hurry and his instant reaction was to look towards The Land of Fire, at the other side. His first thoughts were Mina and The Leaf. He knew that Mina was going to die hours later that same day. There was a good chance that even if he returned to save her, he would not make it on time. On the other hand, delivering the information to the Namikaze village that same day, and not later, had been crucial to stopping the conflict that led to the village's destruction in his timeline.

The sharingan had also returned, so he knew that even if he had the normal green eye now—due to heavy use of the mangekyou form—it would come back to the way it was eventually. Therefore, leaving the past was also a third option for him; but, after what he had seen, he disregarded this option. He was not going to leave both sides, knowing that he could change everything for the better.

Pedro looked at The Land of Earth, in the direction of the future central village for the Namikaze Alliance. He knew that with his current knowledge of the future, he could make things even better than before. He could start his alliance with Hiruzen and The Leaf much earlier. He would be a better First Namikage that didn't give vibes of being more interested in giving speeches and having a good time, than in bringing the good changes for the people sooner. He also thought that if they could identify who the man of the cloak was, they would be able to stop him before he became unstoppable. He was sure that thanks to having this knowledge from the very beginning, The Leaf would be saved and both he and Hiruzen would be able to survive. They would also be able to stop all the threats from the future. It really seemed like a smart path to take to maximize their chances…

However, Mina was not going to be in this future…

He remembered the first time he saw her among his first visions. The person that she was taking care of at her house was him. He also remembered his talks with her and how much he liked seeing her serious ninja face smile for the first time. Meeting her had been the best thing about falling in the past. He didn't want to leave Mina to end as he saw she would end. He would never forgive himself for not trying to save her. And he felt that if he had any chance to save her, he had to do it.

He had to choose between letting Mina die and ensuring that he would become the great Namikage that would create the Namikaze Alliance (and, potentially, eradicate all evil in the realm), or going back to The Leaf's territory to save Mina, while risking the destruction of the Namikaze village—since he didn't warn them on time about the imminent dangers for them. Saving Mina meant putting the entire future of the Namikaze Alliance on jeopardy, but ensuring that future was a certain death for Mina.

Despite the amount of things that were at stake, he already knew what he wanted to do. He knew his right path…

As he gave a last deep look towards the direction of his birthplace, he remembered what his grandfather's last words had been, when he and his brother fled from the Namikaze village to the Clan of the Stone, many years ago:

"Don't look back and get as far from here as possible! Join the Clan of the Stone. Remember all the things I taught you and follow a good path! No matter what happens, I will always be with you. Take this with you and escape!"

That day was the day when he and his brother received their two equal Namikaze swords, but it was also the last day that they saw the Namikaze village and its ninjas. The sword was a secondary memento; those words were what truly marked him forever:

"… follow a good path … I will always be with you …"

While he looked back at The Leaf, the green eye turned into a normal sharingan. The path back to The Leaf felt right, but it also felt like it was a one-way path with no return. That realization saddened him. His eyes got wet because he knew there would be few or no chances to help his grandfather if he made that decision. Yet, that was the good path. The Leaf was the right path for him. He could feel it now and the sharingan's vision confirmed that feeling too...

"Thank you for those words grandpa. Unlike the First Namikage, I will continue following the right path always. I am going to save her and I am returning to The Leaf. Forgive me if I don't make it back in time to save our village."

He was ready to rush back—every minute counted. However, going back was going to be a problem because the broken bridge was the only path to return quickly.

He looked at his surroundings and he found how he could go back: he would make the path himself. On the sides and beneath the broken bridge, there were rocks only; but, where he was standing, there was plenty of earth and no rocks. He started the process of reaching sage mode and once he did it, he moved tons of earth from his side to make a new natural bridge on the rocky path. He ended up making a path of earth that united the two lands and eliminated the previous man-made boundary.

When he ran over it and reached the other side again, he realized that the path that he walked through (when he left the Clan of the Stone to go to The Leaf, at the very beginning) had been created by him in the past. None of this may have happened if this return path had not been taken. Everything would have been different if it wasn't for Pedro's pivotal decision, which changed the balance towards The Leaf's side…

He didn't waste any time there though. The decision had already been made. He decided to save Mina, instead of going back to the Namikaze village and becoming the Namikage of the great alliance (that never existed because he didn't choose that path).

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Caught!


	38. Chapter 38: Caught!

**CHAPTER 38: Caught!**

On his way back, he was using his sage mode at first, so he went back much faster than what it took him to get there. Eventually, he let go of all his sage chakra to conserve his strength and he continued the return path as a normal human. He also began to follow a hidden route through the trees, without making much noise, to avoid being seen.

A few minutes after that, Pedro heard a woman's aggravated voice and he followed it to its location. The voice was moving and it was getting louder, so it was evident that its owner was getting closer to Pedro's location as well. The voice seemed pretty familiar and not happy at all.

Quickly, Pedro Namikaze found the ideal hiding spot, behind a thick set of close branches and trees, which was barely visible from the main open path. He thought that the noises could be from the team that caught Mina. He waited for them to arrive to that location. And sure enough, what he heard was Mina's voice and the group was the Anbu squad that kidnapped her. She sounded really loud and annoying, but she was doing it on purpose, in case any ninja from The Leaf was following her trail.

"Set me free you sissies! Hand over my weapons and fight me like true Anbu ninjas! Aren't you an elite team?! Then, prove it to me!"

Grazu had lost his patience with her.

"Shut up! I am going to be the first in line to kill you once this mission is over! Keena! Do something to keep her mouth shut! Shoot another dart at her for God's sake."

"Captain I only have a second dart and that should be saved for extreme situations. I will tape her mouth to stop her from shouting nonsense."

Then, they went pass Pedro's location and Mina—who knew that section of The Leaf's border pretty well—looked at the best hiding spot in the area and spotted someone there. The ninja had a headband that looked like The Leaf's headband. This clue told her that she would have some sort of reinforcement shortly, so having her mouth with a tape on it wasn't convenient. Her mood and attitude calmed down a little, all of a sudden:

"Ok, I will remain quiet until we arrive at the Clan of the Stone, but when we get there I expect to talk with the Second Tsuchikage himself. He better be able to explain what is the meaning of this."

Keena didn't like her either. Someone else would have been quiet like a rock after getting caught, but this one had a pretty brave nature.

"Lord Tsuchikage is not going to waste his time talking with you. You are our hostage, so you will be the one giving explanations, if you value your life. Next time you shout like that I will keep your mouth shut permanently."

Pedro started to follow them, without losing sight of them.

They continued moving for a few miles, and then they stopped. They camped to eat at an open area that didn't have many trees nearby. Two of them stayed on guard duty and the others began to eat. Pedro counted a total of eleven of them. If they really were Anbu-level ninjas, he couldn't fight all of them at once… unless he was in sage mode, of course.

He started to gather sage chakra and he was ready to launch a full assault on them, as soon as he reached sage mode. They had placed Mina in front of a large tree and one of the guards was watching her closely.

Pedro was getting close to becoming a sage when a shuriken struck the tree that he was standing on, just one inch away from his face. It barely missed him.

He quickly turned around and jumped to the other branch on the tree. At that exact moment, a second attacker landed where Pedro was, with a really fast sword strike. Apparently, he had been waiting for the right moment to attack, from a higher branch that was above Pedro's location. If Pedro had not jumped out of there quickly, the sword strike would have landed on his head instead.

When the Anbu ninja's sword landed on the branch, Pedro jumped back to it and grabbed the attacker by the forearms. He passed nearly all of the natural chakra he had gathered to the other guy. The attacker had zero training with sage chakra control, so all of it went out of balance with his body's chakra, almost as soon as Pedro passed it to him. When he was going to start a sword battle with Pedro, the ninja realized that his arms and hands were far too heavy for that. With the sage chakra going ballistic, they began to turn into stones. He tried to warn his "partner"—the one that threw the shuriken at Pedro first—but it backfired.

"He has a strange technique! Don't let him touch you!"

The other Anbu reacted by throwing an explosive knife at Pedro and his partner, but by the time it reached them, Pedro had jumped out of there. The other guy had a hard time even moving because his two arms had turned into heavy stone already, so he got caught by the explosion. Both of his arms fell down with the impact—it certainly wasn't a pretty sight.

The long-range attacker didn't lose sight of Pedro. He threw another explosive knife at him, but that attack backfired too.

"Earth-shot jutsu!"

Pedro's earth bullet hit the knife before it exploded and pushed it all the way back to its origin. When it finally exploded, it was right in front of the one who threw it.

Grazu, Keena, and the others heard the explosions. Grazu knew that something had failed for the two that he sent after the spy that was following them.

"Leave your positions and attack! The spy from The Leaf didn't fall in our trap!"

Mina's guard left too, so she had the chance to finish opening part of the tie that was on her hands. She was an expert on making effective ties; and the one that was used to hold her wasn't anything complex for her. She knew how to untie it and this was her chance.

Meanwhile, the whole Anbu team started to hunt down the spy. Things were not looking good at all, so Pedro used the shadow clone jutsu to make four clones that would work well as a distraction. He knew that he couldn't fight all of them at once without sage mode.

Unfortunately, Keena never lost sight of the original and she also recognized that he was the one that stayed at Mina's place before. Clearly, he wasn't a spy from the Clan of the Stone. He was from The Leaf too.

"He is the real one! Attack him now!" yelled Keena pointing at the real Pedro.

Three of the others launched a coordinated attack at once:

"Earth-arrow jutsu!"

Pedro blocked the three arrows with an earth-based shield and he followed it with a wind-shield, before those same three ninjas could reach him with their swords. (They didn't wait a single second. After shooting the three arrows, they grabbed their ninja swords and headed for the main enemy on sight right away.)

The wind shield stopped the attackers and it gave the four clones enough time to get there and to engage them in battle. Pedro launched three earth-shots at once at the enemies, while his clones fought them. He also used the earth-hold jutsu to immobilize two of them. It was clear that he was a high-level earth ninja, since not even these Anbus could do more than two earth-shots at once.

However, another one of them managed to get close to him while he was fighting with the help of his shadow clones.

"Sealing-jutsu! Earth!"

A strange seal pattern that he had not seen before appeared around his waist. The pattern had a brown color. The red-haired Anbu woman was the one who managed to place it on him. And soon, he knew what it was meant for…

The other three ninjas were on the floor, but his shadow clones were gone as well, and he couldn't make more in such a short amount of time. Grazu and five others arrived at Keena's location. Things were getting out of hand, so he planned a devastating earth-based attack to make his escape. (Hopefully, that was going to give him enough time to free Mina as well.)

"Earth-shaper! Swords of nature!"

When he finished, the swords didn't raise from the ground and nothing happened. He could feel that the seal around his waist was stopping him. It was a seal to block all earth-based techniques for the one that had it. He had heard about such techniques at the Clan of the Stone, but this was the first time that he met a ninja that could use them.

He couldn't make more clones and summoning was out of the picture as well—the dozens of monkeys who signed the scroll had not been born yet. Without his earth techniques or the time to reach sage mode, there was only one option left, and he had to use it. Pedro closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, something was different about him.

Three of the seven Anbu ninjas left took the initiative to fight him. They unsheathed their ninja blades and rushed at him in a combined battle formation. All three were going to attack him at the same time from different angles.

Unfortunately for them, they gave him enough time to look at their eyes; and they were looking straight at his eyes too. They aimed their sword slashes at him coming from three different sides. When they had him close enough, they swung their swords with full force. And all three of them lost their balance and got the shock of the year, because they didn't hit anything other than the air there. However, all three of them could see him clearly before they attacked. He was there. What was going on!? It was the sharingan's genjutsu…

Grazu, Keena, and the other two saw what really happened. The earth ninja from The Leaf did something, then he jumped out of there, but the other three attacked as if he had not moved from his original spot. It was as if they had not seen him move at all.

Pedro got some distance away from them. He grabbed the two explosive knives he had and threw them at the three that got caught by his genjutsu. The knives exploded on them when they started to realize that they had been fooled.

The leader, Keena, and the other two saw everything.

Grazu knew exactly what they were dealing with.

"He must be an Uchiha! Avoid looking at his red eyes at all costs! The sharingan users can only use their genjutsu if you look straight at their eyes. Let's bring him down together! Move!"

They didn't give Pedro any chance to escape. They had been watching him, so they knew where he was. Pedro noticed how these last four had begun to corner him. They were not looking at the sharingan either. Their eyes were focused on his legs, his hands, and his body movements, not on his eyes. They obviously knew about genjutsu and how it worked.

Pedro had been a trained Anbu ninja from the Clan of the Stone too, so he knew that going in a 4-versus-1 battle with them was the wrong move. However, he really didn't have any other choice.

To raise his chances, he used the wind boost jutsu on the Namikaze sword, to make his slashes even stronger. That and the wind shield were the only wind-based techniques that he learned well, during the training with the old Hiruzen. After all, wind was his second nature for chakra techniques, so it was not his true elemental forte.

Their swords and his clashed. He couldn't keep them back…

Eventually, all four of them got close enough to engage him in battle together. When that happened, Grazu managed to reach him with one of his two swords. It made a minor but visible cut on Pedro's left arm. Then, the other three jumped back and attacked together:

"Earth-shot jutsu!"

"Wind-shield jutsu!"

The wind shield stopped their attack and pushed them back. Pedro knew that he had to retreat and this was his only chance. He ran for it. He even started to open the first of the body's chakra gates to get away faster, but before he could finish that, he felt how something cut him on the neck. He grabbed it. It was a tranquilizer dart. He had seen those before and he knew how powerful they were. Had he failed?

"You are not going anywhere!" yelled Keena.

Then, she landed in front of Pedro and dropped him to the ground with a very sudden spinning hook kick. The dart had begun to take effect on him, so he didn't block or dodge, and he didn't stand up again after that. The other two Anbus landed close to him and grabbed him.

"Do not kill him," ordered Grazu.

"Our mission isn't just to bring her to the Tsuchikage; we also have to make her talk, and I am sure that will be difficult with her. However, we can use him to make sure that she will talk.

Keena place a wind seal on him too and put his belongings and any other weapon he has far away from him. Something tells me that he may know as much as her, or even more. Tie him up well. We are coming back with two hostages instead of one."

One of the other Anbus that were near Pedro asked an uncomfortable question to Grazu, while he was looking back at all the damage that this guy from The Leaf had done to their team of thirteen Anbu ninjas:

"Sir, are all the Anbu ninjas from The Leaf as good as this guy and the blonde woman? If they are, a war with them wouldn't be a good idea for our clan."

Grazu didn't like the way that question sounded.

"Agent, you better not repeat those words close to Lord Mu…

These two must be among their top elites. And that makes them even more valuable for us. I doubt that many more of them are like these two. The other surveillance ninjas that attacked us certainly were not at this level."

Keena interrupted them.

"We will be joining forces with the second Anbu team shortly and I sealed their elemental chakra techniques, so if you are worried about having to fight them on your own, don't be. We caught both of them, so at the end, they were not better than us. And after we join the other team, there is nothing that those two can do."

They placed Pedro Namikaze close to Mina and began to recover their team. Two of them died and the other seven were badly injured. It wasn't too far stretched to say that one of the elites from The Leaf almost took down their whole team.

Grazu changed his orders after that realization:

"If for any reason we lose sight of any of those two or if they try to escape, kill them on the spot. We will need to erase any proof of what our clan is doing, so losing a hostage like them is not acceptable under any circumstance."

When Pedro woke up again, they still didn't have a guard in front of him and Mina because they took half an hour to get their team's members back on their feet. They also planned to leave as soon as all the injured ones were ready.

Pedro had been placed in the same tree where Mina was, but on the opposite side, so they were not seeing each other directly. Nonetheless, she didn't waste any chance to let him know what she thought, as soon as she heard him move:

"Great. So you came back, but instead of saving me, you got yourself caught too. It looks like earth sages are better talkers than rescuers."

Mina sounded a little sarcastic and so did Pedro:

"I am glad to know you are fine too."

She began to regret what she said first, so she said what she felt for real:

"I am sorry about what I just said, I am glad to know that you came back Pedro.

I am getting close to untying myself from here, so soon we will be able to escape.

These guys may be great in combat, but they don't know how to make a professional tie."

When he heard her say that, a psychological alarm woke up in him. He realized that it was still possible for her to die, just as he had seen in the visions from the future at the Dark Realm.

"Don't try to escape on your own after you finish there. Stay close to me."

She noticed he sounded agitated.

"Hey, relax. I am not a damsel in distress. I can defend myself. And if those bastards had not stolen my daggers, I would be thinking about fighting them instead of fleeing from them."

"I know that Mina, but…"

She interrupted him happily:

"You are worried about me. It's good to know I can count on you."

She sounded very glad, but she didn't know that his real reason for worrying was what he saw in the vision. She was starting to think—just think—that he had also enjoyed those long talks with her very much—so much that he came back for her (she thought…).

Clearly, he cared about her if he put himself in danger to save her, but it wasn't just because of those long talks. It was she who started to like him because of that, and because of what she read in his diary too… It had been years since she had met anyone that she could spend hours talking to as if it was nothing. She probably had never met anyone like him either. After all, she only knew the people from The Leaf, which was where she had lived her whole life…

At that moment, Grazu, Keena, and the others came back to pick them up. They were planning to continue their route to join forces with the second Anbu team from their clan. Then, they would keep going, until they reached the central town at the Clan of the Stone.

When they arrived, Mina had to make it look like she had not changed the tie on her hands, but, in reality, she was pretty close to opening them already.

Pedro and Mina were separated and kept under surveillance, until they reached the spot where their captors joined the other squad. The other group had eight Anbu ninjas, so the situation got even worse than before for Pedro and Mina. They were placed not too far from the guards of the other group.

As soon as he had a chance to talk to her without anyone too close to them, he did:

"How does your teleportation technique work? Do you need the daggers for it?"

He had something in mind already.

"I have more than one technique. I need to keep at least one dagger with me for the one I use with the daggers. They are all marked with the right seal already, so as long as I have one with me, I can relocate to the locations of the others. However, I don't have any of them now. The Anbu leader has them.

The other teleportation techniques that I learned require placing a special seal on the other object, or on the other location, before you can use it to take you there. You must have been there before or you must have touched the other object before and placed the seal on it."

(Her techniques only worked for places that she could go to and objects that she could touch. She could not make the trips to other realms or to different timelines. Pedro could do it only because the Sage of Six Paths taught him the right secret seal to use in combination with his special sharingan eye.)

"I see…" replied Pedro, while he located the Anbu leader visually. Right away, he could tell that the shiny weapons Grazu had in one of his pockets had to be Mina's daggers.

"Listen, we don't have much time. They are already close to the end of The Leaf's territory. We need to escape before they begin moving us again. I will use my sage mode and recover your daggers. When I return them to you, escape from here. I will delay them first, then I will make my escape too."

It sounded like an ideal plan, but when he tried to gather sage chakra, he realized that the earth seal acted as a barrier for that too. He really couldn't use any earth-related power or technique.

"What's wrong?" asked Mina.

"Things are worse than I thought. I can't turn into an earth sage because of this earth-blocking seal that she placed on me. And you also have two seals on you."

Mina didn't seem too worried.

"I know how to remove these seals."

"You do?"

He sounded surprised.

"Yes, I have read a lot about how they work, so I can remove them, but first give me some time."

She finished opening the ties she had on her hands. Then, she started making a seal that was used to break other seals, like the ones they had. She had to do it keeping her hands on her back, so that their captors would not notice she was free. She managed to release her two seals first. After that, she got closer to Pedro and started to do the same for the ones on him. She removed the wind seal on him. However, before she finished removing the earth seal, one of the masked Anbus noticed that something was odd about them.

"Hey! Why are you two out of your spots!? We didn't put you there!"

They were not listening, so the ninja from the second team walked to the spot where they were placed on their camp. During that tiny frame of time, Mina finished removing the other seal from Pedro.

The one that suspected that something was wrong got there and pushed them apart violently. He unsheathed and pointed his two swords at them—one at her and the other one at him.

"Don't try anything stupid. If any of you tries to defy us or to escape, you won't live to tell the story. Is that clear!?"

"Yes," answered Mina with an undefeated look, after she got back up from the ground to a sitting position.

"Goood. There are almost twenty of us and just two of you. It doesn't matter how good you are. You better think twice before you try anything."

Pedro Namikaze didn't say anything…

The ninja went back to his position, but, before he got there, he stopped cold on the spot, halfway between the prisoners and the others in his group. Something was different: they didn't have the elemental seals that were placed on them before Grazu's team brought them to their location. They had removed the seals!

"The hostages are trying to escape! Take them down!"

As soon as that alarm was heard by all the others, Pedro's eyes and the skin around them changed. He had begun the process since Mina removed the earth seal from him. He continued, even while the guard was talking down on them…

One of the Anbus in the second group knew exactly what those yellow eyes and the changed skin color around them meant. His instant reaction was to make an earth arrow and to shot it at the sage as soon as possible. However, a dozen arms of earth appeared and the arrow was stopped completely by just one of them, as if it was nothing. Two of the other hands grabbed Grazu from the surface and lifted him up. They made him drop Mina's daggers. Another one brought the set of daggers to Mina; and the rest laid waste to all the attacking ninjas in between. Mina also removed Pedro's ties as soon as she got her daggers back.

"Get away from here Mina. I will follow you as soon as I know that you are far enough from the reach of their arrows."

Mina felt like staying and joining the battle (she truly had an Anbu spirit), but she knew that fighting that many wasn't a wise move and she wasn't a sage from another realm like him, so she did as he said.

However, when she used a second dagger to teleport to the location of the first one she had thrown, she saw that it didn't work. She looked at the others and she noticed that the seals she had on them had been altered. Apparently, Grazu was prepared for this. After all, it was evident that she would try to get them back. And he, obviously, was not a fool—he was an Anbu leader after all.

Mina was still at a disadvantage, since her best technique did not work…

Grazu, Keena, and two others went after Mina. She was their original mission and they could not let her escape, no matter what. Even killing her was better than letting her escape to The Leaf. The rest of the ninjas stayed to capture the earth sage.

Pedro noticed that Mina wasn't getting away quickly and she wasn't using her fast technique either. Something was wrong. However, he couldn't go to help her get away because the others launched various combined attacks against him. They used earth arrows, earth shots, wind-based strikes that depleted the victim's chakra, and even water-style techniques. The sage mode was superior to those abilities, but these Anbu ninjas were still very difficult to deal with. The problem was that they fought as a unit, or as a well-coordinated team—just like Team Namikaze used to do—and there were many more of them now. Sage Pedro had to fight them seriously. At least, they were focused on him, rather than on Mina…

Eventually, the other four got Mina in a situation where they could shoot earth arrows at her. There were few trees in that spot, so avoiding all four them was pretty difficult. Grazu and Keena forced her to move towards that area; then, they stayed behind, and the other two Anbus came and shot two arrows at Mina from different sides.

Pedro Namikaze caught a glimpse of what was happening and he went out of his way to stop it, but the others were blocking his path, so he couldn't get there on time…

Fortunately, the Third Hokage, his personal Anbu squad, and two of his best students arrived just in time.

Hiruzen destroyed the arrow that was about to hit Mina with one of his explosive knives and caught everyone by surprise with a massive fire-style blaze technique. Everyone recognized that it was the Hokage because he was using the Kage vest and the large red hat that only the Hokages used.

"Are you ok?" asked Hiruzen to Mina.

"Never better," she said, knowing that the tables had been turned in their favor.

"You left these behind, which is something that you would never do. And the others from your group were found dead too, so I supposed that you were taken as a hostage. They are earth ninjas from the Clan of the Stone, aren't they?"

Hiruzen handed two daggers to Mina and she confirmed what he thought.

These two daggers had not been altered and they had been left behind on the ground.

They were exactly what she needed!

"It's time to show them what The Leaf's surveillance can do," said Mina with victory on her face.

Orochimaru and Tsunade were also there with Hiruzen.

The pale kid attacked the two Anbus that had shot the arrows at Mina. He used a water-style technique first. Then, he followed it with a large fire blaze, like Hiruzen's, and caught them by surprise all over again. (The kid was an abnormal phenomenon because he could use and mix all the elemental techniques, including the ones that were seen as total opposites. Even the Hokage could not use water and fire as if both were his primary element.)

Tsunade attacked Keena, but she missed completely and Keena placed several elemental seals on her. Keena laughed hard because Tsunade looked like a joke to her:

"A girl like you should be playing with dolls, instead of challenging someone like me. Go back to The Leaf before you get killed little girl. Fight with your dolls."

Tsunade got mad and Keena had her guard down, because, what could that little girl do to her? She couldn't even use chakra techniques after all the seals she landed on her.

Unfortunately, Keena didn't know that the girl was the First Hokage's granddaughter, and using elemental techniques was not what the girl was exceptionally good at.

Tsunade took the opportunity and landed a punch on Keena's rib cage. Something cracked in that rib cage and Keena landed on the ground and stayed there. She didn't show any signs of even trying to get up.

"I don't like playing with dolls," added Tsunade.

"I do like getting first places on all the board breaking competitions though. The boys make faces like yours when I win. And you didn't give me any chance to tell you that my master's team is full of dangerous ninjas, and I am one of them."

Little Tsunade was far more scary than what she looked like. Just like Orochimaru, she had been picked by The Leaf's leaders to be trained by Hiruzen because they recognized that she had exceptional talents too. She was an advanced medical ninja that was also lethal for close-range combat. Many years later, she was going to end up being the Fifth Hokage of The Leaf, and the first one who was a woman…

Hiruzen's Anbu squad scattered and started to fight all the other Anbus in the area. Mina also joined them and headed to Pedro's location. The Anbus from The Leaf didn't recognize Pedro, but they saw he had The Leaf's headband and he wasn't with the others, so they didn't attack him. They came at the perfect time because the sage mode didn't have a lot of time left either.

Grazu got greedy when he thought that he had a shot at taking down the Hokage. He knew that if he could do it, it would represent great things for him at the Clan of the Stone. Lord Mu would probably ascend him in position and pay him loads of money too. Maybe, he could even aspire to be the next Tsuchikage. His head got flooded with ambition, but it wasn't the good type of ambition…

The Anbu leader fought against Hiruzen using his two swords and his best techniques. Hiruzen's preferred weapon was not a sword, it was a bo staff made of steel. (This bo staff wasn't the one that his summon, King Enma, could turn himself into though.) The younger Hiruzen was unbelievably good at fighting with that weapon. Grazu couldn't put a scratch on him with his swords.

When Grazu used chakra strikes that used rocks, instead of earth (to make them more powerful), Hiruzen retaliated with the same technique. The Hokage was one of those extremely rare ninjas that could use more than two styles of chakra-based elemental attacks. (In case you are wondering, Pedro Namikaze wasn't one; only Hiruzen, Orochimaru, and the Sage of Six Paths have this ability; and the only ones who have it for every single style are Orochimaru and the legendary sage.)

During their battle, Grazu never managed to get the upper hand against the Third Hokage…

When Pedro's sage mode ran out, all the ninjas from the other clan had been beaten. Hiruzen's squad was very effective; and Mina could have easily been one of them. She was at a different level with her teleportation daggers.

Grazu feared for his life when he saw the worrisome outcome of the clash with the elite ninjas from The Leaf, so he threw himself on the ground and begged for mercy:

"Hokage please forgive us. We are just doing our job. We won't come back to The Leaf again after this."

Hiruzen didn't look happy at all.

"Killing ninjas from The Leaf is your job? I can't forgive that, but I need someone to take my message to the one responsible for this. Tell Mu, your Tsuchikage, that he will have to answer me directly for this in the next gathering of the Kages. Also, let him know that if this happens again, his ninjas won't return and it will be an open declaration of war against The Leaf. I am sure that this would not be a good thing for the Clan of the Stone."

Grazu and the survivors agreed and they left with a deep aura of defeat above them. Mina didn't like Hiruzen's decision; she thought that they should have taken them as hostages to find out what the Tsuchikage was planning. However, Hiruzen wanted to avoid war for The Leaf, if possible, so he believed that what he did was their best choice.

Then, Orochimaru said something, and Hiruzen saw Pedro, at last…

"Master, there he is. That guy is the one that was spying on us during our last training with King Enma. He didn't do anything, but I noticed that he was there before he left."

Hiruzen looked a little shocked when he saw Pedro; it was as if he had seen a ghost from the past.

"He also looks like the guy that the drunk lady described to me master," added Tsunade.

"That means that he was also inside Konoha during the same day. He must be a really good spy," pointed out Orochimaru.

Hiruzen made a signal and half of his Anbu squad fell on Pedro.

One of the guards grabbed Pedro's jaw and looked straight at his eyes. Then, the guard's eyes turned into a normal sharingan; and they continued changing into a mangekyou sharingan, right after that. The guard had a mask on, so his identity was not revealed, but it was clear that he was an Uchiha. (His mangekyou sharingan looked much different than Pedro's and its unique ability was different as well.)

Pedro didn't struggle and he fell asleep deeply, as soon as he looked into the eyes of the Uchiha guard. The guard had used his mangekyou sharingan on him.

"Let's return to Konoha. Take him to my office. He has a lot to explain, starting from how he got that headband."

With Hiruzen's orders, everyone began to move, but there was someone there who couldn't accept this outcome.

"Hiruzen, what are you doing!? He was helping us! He is not one of them! He may have saved my life! And he is here because of you!"

The Hokage turned around and placed his hand on Mina's mouth:

"Do not say anything else Mina, we are going to have to talk about this later. And he will have to talk too; if not, Kagami will talk for him."

Hiruzen looked like he had good reasons for doing this. However, Mina knew what Kagami Uchiha could do with his sharingan.

"Wait! There is no need for that! I can prove that he is one of us. I have his diary! Also, you can look at his belongings."

"Bring them and the diary to us. And… don't comment anything about this with anyone. This may be crucial for The Leaf Mina. You will understand later, when we talk about it. Trust me, this is necessary."

"What are you going to do to him?"

Mina was starting to get worried.

"Don't worry, he won't be harmed, but I must know what he knows. I have good reasons for this. It matters for our clan."

Mina didn't know what to do. She had to leave Pedro and trust that Hiruzen had a good reason for doing this.

The Hokage couldn't wait to find out the truth. This was the second time that he had seen the mysterious earth sage; and just like the first time, he had The Leaf's headband on his forehead…

What happened the first time marked Hiruzen's life forever… now, it was time to find out who the earth sage was… and what was the Hokage's biggest secret...

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Hiruzen's Secret


	39. Chapter 39: Hiruzen's Secret

**CHAPTER 39: Hiruzen's Secret**

The Third and his ninja guards arrived at Konoha and headed to the Hokage's building, which was located at the opposite end from the entrance. Three of them were carrying Pedro Namikaze, who was still asleep. They put an Anbu mask on his face, to ensure that the people from the young Leaf wouldn't notice that they were carrying someone new.

Meanwhile, Mina headed back to her house. She was the only one who took care of grabbing Pedro's belongings and bringing them back. She knew that the large summoning scroll, in particular, was very important for him. She planned to leave it at her house, before she headed out to Konoha with Pedro's diary. She wanted to give it to Hiruzen to make sure that he and the others would believe everything Pedro said. She knew that his story wasn't easy to believe at first, but, from her point of view, he had proved it already. It was the truth…

Hiruzen and his ten Anbu guards entered the Hokage's office. The place had a great view of Konoha, but at the same time, what happened there was barely visible from the outside. And whatever was said there surely didn't leave the room, especially if it was classified information that had some significance for The Leaf. The ten ninjas were top agents from The Leaf and Hiruzen's closest friends. Their job was protecting the Hokage and completing any special mission that was assigned to them by him.

They all removed their masks when they arrived there.

The one that put Pedro Namikaze to sleep was the only Uchiha in their group. His name was Kagami. He was a pure-blooded Uchiha that had been born at the Uchiha village, which wasn't too far from Konoha (and it was part of The Leaf too). The Second Hokage identified his potential when he was just a boy and picked him as one of his students, just like he did with Hiruzen. He was among the very few Uchihas that awakened the advanced form of their sharingan. He also knew both Hiruzen and Mina since the time when they were kids.

In many ways, Kagami was as skilled and as worthy of praise as Hiruzen. He couldn't use many elemental styles, but he had his sharingan's power, and Hiruzen didn't have that. Kagami also had the same chances to end up being the Third Hokage. However, when the Second asked them who would take his place as the next Hokage, all of his students froze and only Hiruzen took on the responsibility. The question was given to them at a time of wars when becoming the Hokage meant that your life would be in danger every day, and all of The Leaf's burdens would fall on your shoulders as well. Hiruzen was the only one willing to make such sacrifices for The Leaf, even from the early age of 17.

Kagami fought the same battles, but ultimately, it was Hiruzen who earned the title, with his brave decision that day.

Mina was also trained by Tobirama Senju (the Second), but she was not in the elite team where Kagami and Hiruzen were. (She learned the basics of her teleportation technique from the Second Hokage himself. She learned the rest on her own through her solo practices and from books she read on the subject.)

Kagami, however, was not like Danzo (a member of their young elite team that had his eyes set on the Hokage title for selfish personal reasons; thus, he couldn't put his life at high risk for it). Kagami cared about The Leaf and about ending all the battles and the conflicts; however, he was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen—even things that were not good. In general, he wasn't evil like Danzo, but he wasn't as good as Hiruzen either. Nonetheless, he was glad that Hiruzen ended up as the Hokage; and, as time passed, Hiruzen chose him to be one of his close Anbu guards…

"Is he still asleep?" asked Hiruzen to the two ninjas that were holding Pedro.

"It seems like it," replied both.

"He will be like that for another 20 minutes at least. He seemed skilled based on what I saw, so I didn't hold back when I used the sharingan on him," added Kagami.

Hiruzen seemed thoughtful, as if he was being cautious about what he was going to do next.

"In that case, let's take a short break for the next 25 minutes. We just came back from a heavy battle, so let's get ourselves back to top shape. If anyone needs something from the medical ninjas at the second floor, go and get it now. Leave him tied on that chair using the anti-chakra chain, and come back after you are ready. We will resume everything here in 25 minutes. I plan to interrogate him when he wakes up. I will stay here."

Hiruzen's squad began to leave, one by one, after Pedro Namikaze was left in the chair, held by a special chain that would block him from using any chakra-based technique.

Hiruzen stopped the last one of the ten guards before he left:

"Kagami. Wait."

The others left and Kagami Uchiha stayed there.

"What's the matter? Do you want me to use my mind reading technique, even though he is still asleep? I think we should wait."

"Don't worry about him now Kagami. There is something that I want you to know before you use that on him."

It became clear to Kagami that it was something extremely important for Hiruzen. Otherwise, why wouldn't he want everybody else in his Anbu squad to know as well? All of them were trustworthy—that was one of the reasons why they had been chosen…

"What is it Hiruzen?" asked Kagami.

"Have you used your sharingan's power to read my mind before?"

Kagami was perplexed by that question. He definitely wasn't expecting it.

"Me? Of course not! I have never done that; and if I had done it, I would have told you. Why are you asking me that Hiruzen? Don't tell me that you have doubts about me, after all these years."

Hiruzen was glad about Kagami's reaction. He knew he could trust his old friend.

"Good. I know I can count on you Kagami. That's why I want you to use your mind reading on me. Search for my memory of the first time I saw him. I want you to know that secret. And after you use that on him, I want you to tell me if he also has that memory or not. I need to know what happened to him before it, and afterwards. The Leaf's future may depend on that information. And it should be kept as a secret, until the time is right."

Kagami was still surprised.

"So, you already know this guy that we caught today?"

"I saw him once before, but that was enough to know that The Leaf was in danger, and he knew everything about the source of that danger. However, I still don't know anything about him. I want you to find out everything about him, starting with me. My old secret may surprise you, but I am sure that his secrets are far better and more important. As The Leaf's protectors, we need to know them."

"Hiruzen, are you sure about this?"

Kagami still had doubts because he knew how his ability worked. He couldn't focus it only on that particular memory; so, by the end of it, he was going to know more about Hiruzen than just that memory.

"Yes Kagami, I am sure. Someone else must know about it. And I trust that you are the right person for this task. Do it now; I am ready."

Unlike Kagami, the Hokage didn't have any doubts.

The iris and the pupils of Kagami's eyes turned red and revealed three dark commas. This was the sign of an active normal sharingan. Then, the iris and the dark commas blended and continued changing, revealing a new black and red pattern. Kagami's mangekyou sharingan had a red pupil with three circles around it: one black, one red, and the final one was black too.

His mangekyou's unique ability was mind manipulation, which also included mind reading and seeing the target's past memories. (This was why Kagami could put Pedro to sleep.) Maida's mangekyou was also special, like Kagami's, but very different from others. Its unique ability was seeing the best future path to take and revealing what would happen next. It also had another great power that Maida used once, but Pedro didn't remember anything about it, since it was used on him…

Hiruzen looked into Kagami's eyes and it caused him uneasiness, even after knowing that Kagami was trustworthy. Often, the sharingan eyes looked more like a curse than a unique power.

Kagami didn't take long to see everything and, as soon as he saw how Hiruzen met the earth sage, he deactivated the mangekyou sharingan. There was no need for him to see more about Hiruzen after that. Thus, he brought his eyes back to normal.

Seeing what happened left Kagami with questions and wonder, but it also left a smile on his face.

"So, that was how you really got it. You got it from him. I would have never thought that. But don't worry Hiruzen; I am sure that you would have ended up as Hokage, even without that. And you are right, we need to know why he appeared there that day. He looked the same age as now, even though we were kids back then. His eyes looked different though. He has a sharingan power that I have never seen before; and he isn't even a true Uchiha, which means that power and that eye are not his…

We definitely have to find out who he is and why he did that."

Kagami looked at Pedro Namikaze, whom was starting to wake up at that very moment. Then, the other nine Anbu guards started to arrive. When the last one entered the Hokage's office, Pedro was already aware of what was happening around him. He looked at the young Hiruzen and he saw someone who was seeing him as a mysterious stranger, rather than as a friend.

Clearly, they were not going to treat him as a guest of honor. They were going to interrogate him. And he knew that he couldn't answer their questions because revealing the future to all of them had to be avoided. No one could predict the outcome of that kind of revelation. It could even affect the future in a negative way, instead of changing it for the better. He trusted Hiruzen, but he didn't know what to expect from the others. It was a gamble that he could not take.

Hiruzen noticed that the earth sage was observing all of them. It was time to find out the truth about him.

"You seem to know a lot about The Leaf. You walked through Konoha without raising any alarms, as if you were one of us. You knew where I train with my students. And you also have our legitimate headband. Yet, you have tried to evade us. Why? What is your purpose? Who are you and why did you come to our clan?"

Hiruzen was much younger, but he was just like before, in terms of how he handled things.

He was calm, confident, and very clever. He looked like a serious and respectable leader at 28, just like he did at 70…

Pedro Namikaze remembered the old Hiruzen when he saw the current one. However, he couldn't say the truth in front of all those guards. He trusted the Hokage, but he couldn't trust anyone else there.

"I can answer your questions only if we are the only two people present, Hiruzen. If there is anyone present besides us, I won't say anything, for the wellbeing of The Leaf and for the sake of our future."

He stated all of that with complete certainty.

Even Hiruzen was slightly surprised. The way Pedro answered also made it feel like he already knew the Third Hokage pretty well. Most people at The Leaf called him "Third" or "Hokage" out of respect. Those from outside The Leaf didn't even know his name; they just knew that he was the Hokage, and that was enough for them…

Hiruzen looked thoughtful.

"What is your name?" asked Hiruzen.

"It's Pedro. I can't tell you anything else unless it is just you and me."

Hiruzen placed his Hokage hat on the table at the center of his large office. He didn't look like he was going to give in.

"I am afraid I can't grant you that wish, Pedro. I trust my team here and they will stay with us, while you cooperate with me."

"Then, I can't tell you anything… but, I know that you care about The Leaf's future as much as I do. And because of that, only you must know what I can say. Even that is already a risk for The Leaf. However, I know that you would never betray The Leaf or the chance for a better future for this clan."

Everyone was surprised with that answer, including Hiruzen and Kagami. They didn't know him yet, so they didn't know what to think. Besides, it didn't make sense that he seemed to know Hiruzen well. Hiruzen had only seen him once when he was a kid and they barely talked; so there was no way that he could have learned anything about Hiruzen from that day—not even his first name.

Inor Yamanaka, one of the other Anbu ninjas, stepped up.

"Third, there is no need to go on with this interrogation. I can bring my son Inoichi to find out everything about him. He will read him and we will find out everything in no time."

(Inoichi is Ino's dad—Ino is a secondary character from the Naruto shows. At this point in time, he was a kid, but he already had his mind reading abilities.)

Pedro Namikaze remembered that he had heard the name Inoichi Yamanaka more than once, during the months that he spent at The Leaf before. Inoichi was one of the top ninjas from their interrogation squad. He was well-known because he didn't have to hurt anyone to make them talk. He could find out everything on his own using a strange ability he had. And no, he didn't have a sharingan eye either. It was a unique talent.

This worried Pedro immensely, since it was clear that sooner or later, they could find out the future that he knew about. And he had no way to predict if that was going to be good or bad…

Kagami placed his hand on Inor's shoulder and faced Pedro.

"I know that you are proud of your son Inor, but we already have someone in the team that can do that. Let me handle it now."

Kagami was even more anxious than Hiruzen to find out who that guy was. However, his methods to "interrogate" were very different.

When Pedro saw Kagami headed for him—now without a mask on—he quickly realized that this was the same guy that used his mangekyou sharingan on him before. His Uchiha resemblance reminded him of Sasuke Uchiha; and the crest that he had engraved on his Anbu gear was the same crest that he had seen at the secret basement that had the first Uchiha stone. Sasuke also had that same Uchiha crest on his shirt when Pedro saw him walking at the dead Uchiha village. It was the symbol of the Uchiha Clan, which was part of The Leaf and an ally for Konoha…

Kagami didn't have his sharingans active, so his eyes looked normal at first. However, Pedro knew it was him, even before he changed his eyes.

(Only Maida's sharingans were seen active—red and showing their three black commas—at all times; this was why Zet and Su wanted them, and knowing that she was also Madara's granddaughter sealed the deal for them; this, however, was not the case, even for Pedro Namikaze. Pedro also began to show a normal green eye after he regained the sharingan's power, since the eye had already adapted to him being its new carrier. Only Maida Uchiha displayed that "constantly awakened" trait and only the Sage of the Six Paths, Hagaromo Otsutsuki, knew why…)

Kagami stopped right in front of the chair where Pedro was tied with the anti-chakra chain.

"I am going to ask you once earth sage. What is your connection with The Leaf and the Uchihas? Who gave you your power? Say everything without leaving anything out!"

Kagami was agitated about it because he didn't like knowing that someone who wasn't even an Uchiha had the power that was exclusive to the mightiest Uchihas in history.

"I won't tell you anything. I will only talk to Hiruzen, without anyone else present."

Kagami grabbed Pedro by the neck with one hand only and pushed both him and the chair all the way to the floor. He slammed the chair on the floor and continued holding Pedro's neck. Then, his eyes started to change, just like they did before. Pedro closed his eyes, expecting that Kagami's power would not work if he didn't look at the eyes. Unfortunately, this was the special ability of Kagami's special sharingan, so it worked just like Maida's ability and Pedro's ability: there was no need to have the other person looking at you. It was necessary for the type of mental manipulation that induced sleep, but not for seeing the target's past memories.

Kagami's mind reading ability was unstoppable for Pedro because he couldn't fight back. The chain they used to hold him blocked all chakra, and therefore, all techniques that used any chakra; and that included sharingan-based ones, like the Tsukuyomi genjutsu.

Kagami began to see all of the earth sage's past memories, as if their minds had been connected with a USB cable temporarily. The look on Kagami's face started to change dramatically. He began to see the answers he sought, but what he found was beyond anything he could have imagined. It was like finding one shocking truth right after another.

Kagami continued using his mangekyou, even though he was pushing himself too far. Pedro didn't know what was happening, but he still tried to get away. However, these guys knew how to make ties, just like Mina, so escaping was impossible for him this time. And he couldn't gather sage chakra because of the chain.

Kagami began to sweat and blood began to come from under his right sharingan eye. Yet, he still continued going through more of Pedro's memories. If he kept it going, he was going to faint for sure.

"Kagami, this is enough! End it now!" ordered Hiruzen, as he stepped away from his table, ready to end things himself if it was necessary.

He didn't stop Kagami before because he also needed to know the truth about Pedro. Nonetheless, nearly all the evidence seemed to say that Pedro was an ally, rather than an enemy, so Kagami's handling of the situation became unacceptable in Hiruzen's eyes. The Hokage even got worried because if what Pedro said was right, then it had been a bad idea to allow someone else to know Pedro's answers. However, it was too late to change that now…

Right after Hiruzen stood up and ordered Kagami to end it, someone nearly broke down the door of the Hokage's office. The atmosphere was already tense enough in there, so everyone—except Kagami—grabbed their weapon of choice and pointed it at the door, which had been opened very suddenly with a powerful kick that made it crash with the wall beside it.

Tsunade and Orochimaru had an urgent matter for the Hokage, but they couldn't have opened that door at a worse time. Everyone had their weapons ready as if they were going to attack them. And very close to them, they saw one of Hiruzen's Anbu guards holding the unknown ninja by the neck against the floor. The guard had blood coming from one of his eyes too. The unknown guy had been tied using special chains, as if he was a dangerous enemy—neither Orochimaru nor Tsunade got that impression from him, based on what they saw during their last mission to assist the elite team in saving surveillance squad leader Mina.

Hiruzen couldn't believe his eyes.

"Tsunade haven't I told you that you are not supposed to break down doors? Didn't I tell you that you must not come to this area of the building without an adult, unless it is a life-or-death situation? Orochimaru, didn't I tell you that you need to wait until the high priority missions are done for us to do our next trainings? Both of you should also know very well that you shouldn't open doors like this at a high-security area. One of us could have launched a knife at you before we had the chance to see who opened the door. You should only do something like this if you are in a very urgent situation and it is your last resort."

Hiruzen wasn't too mad at them, but he looked disappointed. They were not little kids anymore—but, they had a good reason to do this indeed. However, before they had the chance to talk, Kagami stood up and walked to the door. His eyes went back to normal. He used his left hand to cover the blood below his eye.

Orochimaru placed his hand on a knife he had, since he didn't like that guard's look; but, Kagami ignored the kids and everybody else completely. When he reached the door, he turned around and looked at Pedro.

"Thank you for everything Pedro Namikaze. Thank you for what you have done so far; and thank you for what you haven't done yet…

Now, there is something that I must do."

Kagami left the entrance to the office running and without saying anything else. He was in a hurry because of what he had seen among Pedro Namikaze's memories.

He was an Uchiha, so he had to warn Fugan Uchiha—the Uchiha village's leader and Sasuke's grandfather—about what he saw. In the not-so-far future, the entire Uchiha Clan was going to be exterminated at their own village. Pedro didn't know anything else about it, but on its own, that was alarming enough for Kagami. He had to rush to his home village to warn them about it. He also decided that he would find the man of the cloak and the snake, so that he could kill him, since that man was the clear enemy of all…

Hiruzen didn't like the way things were turning out. And Kagami's behavior was very odd. Instead of revealing the truth to Hiruzen and the others, he fleed—most likely because of something he saw in the earth sage's memories. Hiruzen feared that Pedro had been saying the truth, which meant that allowing Kagami to "read" Pedro and to know his old secret had been tactical mistakes that could affect The Leaf. Hiruzen hoped that it wasn't going to be that way, but if it was, he had to do something about it.

The Hokage made a signal and called four of the other nine guards. Then, he gave them a new mission on the spot.

"Find Kagami and bring him back. That wasn't his normal self and he knows classified information that is critical for the clan. He must not share that with anyone else. Do not use lethal force, but if he doesn't cooperate or if any sort of resistance from him is likely, then, use any other means necessary. Go."

The other four left just as fast as Kagami.

Then, Tsunade found her first chance to talk:

"Master Sarutobi, we came because we also have an urgent matter that you must know about."

Tsunade looked worried.

She revealed what it was:

"Jiraiya has been lost for more than five days. He likes to play pranks, but he is never gone like this. We fear something may have happened to him."

Orochimaru talked after Tsunade:

"I searched for him everywhere. I even looked at the women's hot springs because I know that he is a pervert. However, no one has seen him and no one knows where he is."

Hiruzen started to feel worried too. Jiraiya and those two at the door were his closest students. He received those news as if they had said that his own newborn son was lost.

Without hesitation, he assigned the other five ninjas from his squad to a new mission:

"Inor and all of you, go and find Jiraiya now. This is a mission. You two look outside of Konoha, and you three search inside the town. Don't come back until you find him or something that can lead us to him. Anything that can help us must be found."

"Third, shouldn't one of us stay here with you?" asked Inor, while he looked at Pedro.

"No, these missions are more important now. And even if another situation arises, I will be fine. Forget about him for now. I will take him to one of the special cells in the basement. Go now and search for Jiraiya as if you were searching for your own kid."

All the others left to look for the white-haired boy Jiraiya.

Then, Pedro—who was still tied to the chair on the floor—looked at Tsunade and Orochimaru:

"I know where Jiraiya is. You won't be able to find him until he returns on his own."

"How can you know that?" asked Orochimaru, a little puzzled.

"Tell us! Wheere is he?!"

Tsunade was eager to hear the answer.

Hiruzen walked up to Pedro and lifted the chair from the floor.

"Prove to me that I can trust you Pedro Namikaze.

Where is my student and how do you know his whereabouts?"

The only ones in the room were Hiruzen, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Pedro. Pedro already knew that the Uchiha guard knew a lot about him because of what he did with his mangekyou (he even mentioned his full name before he left). Therefore, he needed to have the younger Hiruzen on his side now. Revealing something was going to be necessary.

"Jiraiya is at the Realm of the Toads. He was summoned there by mistake by one of the toad sages. He won't come back until he can summon a toad. I know all of this because I heard it from him. I come from the future Leaf. I became one of your Anbu guards there. I also met Jiraiya there."

Hiruzen observed him while he answered, and he looked completely honest. In fact, nothing about his body language showed that he wasn't 100% sure about what he said.

Orochimaru still didn't want to believe it. He was a really smart kid that liked to question things.

"Pedro Namikaze, you are either a great storyteller or a superb actor. Both sound ideal for a spy, so you are most likely a spy. I just can't believe that there is a 'Realm of Toads.'"

Pedro replied to the pale kid:

"You, more than anyone else, should believe it. You can summon snakes. Where do you think that they come from? Where do you think that the monkey king came from? They come from their own realm, of course. How can you summon without knowing about the snakes and their realm?"

Orochimaru stayed very quiet. He could tell that Pedro's words made perfect sense. The truth was that he didn't know anything about the Realm of the Snakes (yet). He had been saved once from three rogue ninjas by a white snake. The snake waited until the attackers killed Orochimaru's parents and then it got involved to save the special kid (Orochimaru didn't know this, of course). After that, Orochimaru and the snake became friends. The snake taught him about summoning, so that he could call them to aid him, if he ever needed it. The white snake could talk too—like the monkeys from the Earth Realm—but it never mentioned anything about other realms…

Tsunade's thoughts were still at "Jiraiya's realm."

"So… you mean that Jiraiya is just having fun with a bunch of toads and frogs while we are worried sick about him? That bastard! I knew it! I am going to slap him the next time he tries to kiss me, even if that leaves him at the hospital."

Tsunade was talking like an irate woman, even though she was just a 12-year-old girl.

(Obviously, she had not met Dan yet. In Naruto's show, Tsunade's true love is Dan, but she was much older too. Here, she is a young girl.)

When Pedro was listening to what Tsunade was saying, Hiruzen placed a small handkerchief on his nose. One second later, when he noticed it, he had already breathed in once. The handkerchief's smell caught him by surprise; it felt like very soft alcohol—but the smell was slightly different—and it began to cast its effect on him very quickly. He began to feel half-conscious almost right away.

"This will give me enough time to take you to the special cell at the basement of this building. There, you are going to tell me everything. The anesthetic agent I gave you now is made by our medical ninjas. It is harmless, so you have nothing to worry about. It will just put you to sleep a little more."

Hiruzen had been really fast with the handkerchief; no one saw that coming and no one noticed when he got it.

"Orochimaru, Tsunade, help me to untie him. We are taking him to the basement using a different route."

They removed the anti-chakra chains and took him out of the chair. Then, Hiruzen placed an Anbu mask on Pedro's face.

"Master Sarutobi, why are you hiding his face?" asked Orochimaru.

"We are still in a top secret mission and I consider it crucial to keep his identity hidden for now. Last week you mentioned that you wanted to participate in a secret mission, so now is your chance to be part of one. And you too, Tsunade."

Hiruzen opened a secret passage on one of his office's walls, revealing a path never seen before. It was an alternate and faster route to the basement.

"You two will grab his legs and I will carry his body."

They entered the passage and Hiruzen closed it from the inside. Then, they walked down through several sets of stairs carrying Pedro, until they reached the basement through a different entrance.

Hiruzen placed Pedro in one of the two empty cells that were made with a material that prevented chakra manipulation, just like the chain. Luckily, there was no one else at the basement, so only Hiruzen's students saw what happened. And that was why he used the Anbu mask on Pedro—so that no one else would know who it was. He still didn't know the earth sage though…

"Now, I want you two to go to the basement's main entrance. You will guard it for me. No one must enter until I am finished here. That will be your mission. I will need plenty of time to interrogate him. And no one else must be here."

"Is that all? Is this the secret mission?" asked Orochimaru disappointed.

"What are you going to do with him master? Is he an ally?" asked Tsunade.

"Orochimaru, the mission is secret because I expect that you will keep everything you saw or heard during the mission to yourself, and you will never talk about it to anyone. So that secret path that we took is something that you have to keep to yourself. Tsunade, I plan to hear all his answers first. Then, I will decide if he is an ally or an enemy."

"He seems like an ally," pointed out Tsunade, before Orochimaru and she left to secure the main entrance.

Pedro Namikaze began to wake up once again, inside the cell. Hiruzen grabbed a chair and sat down in front of Pedro, outside the cell.

"Now it is just you and me Mr. Namikaze. No one else is here. I want you to tell me everything. Who are you? Why are you here? When and how did you meet me before? What is your relationship with our clan?"

Pedro decided that he was going to tell Hiruzen everything, with one condition:

"I'll tell you everything, but first, you must promise me that you won't reveal my important secrets to anyone. If you do, you will put The Leaf's future in great danger. This must be your most sacred secret for the wellbeing of the clan."

"One of my guards already knows everything. That can't be changed, but I won't tell anyone else about this, unless The Leaf itself depended on it. I will also make sure that Kagami won't talk about it either."

Pedro Namikaze began to tell the young Hiruzen his whole story. He told him what happened from the time when he arrived at Maida's village to the time when he came back to save Mina from a certain death. He told Hiruzen that he met him when he was an old man and that he—the Hokage—saved him after the massacre that took place at one of the allied villages. He was the only survivor there. He mentioned all the things that the old Hiruzen taught him at The Leaf, during his training. He also mentioned his encounters with Hagaromo, but he didn't talk much about how he managed to travel to the Earth Realm. He just told Hiruzen that he found the way to do it. He mentioned how he managed to help save the Earth Realm though, and how that changed that realm's future for the better. By the time he finished, Hiruzen had a good idea of all the events that happened to Pedro Namikaze. It was clear that the moment when he saw Pedro as a kid had not taken place in Pedro's life yet…

Moreover, Kagami's reaction was also very clear: he found out that his native clan was going to be wiped out at some point in the future. He also found out that he wasn't the only carrier of a special sharingan that met a "holy sage" at a strange dark realm. What would happen next was not clear, but Pedro's story made perfect sense to Hiruzen. He also understood why it was important to keep it as a secret. If someone wanted to make great changes to the future, all they had to do was changing one of the events that made a great difference or eliminating one of the people that made a major change. Pedro Namikaze was one of those people…

"Thank you Pedro. I will keep your secret.

I also want you to join us again, just like you did before. You may have to stay here for a couple of days, while I fix things outside, but I will make sure that you are treated well. One of the guards will bring you food in the next hours."

Hiruzen looked confident and calm as always, but the possibility of The Leaf's destruction in the future truly worried him. And he still didn't know why Pedro appeared there that day…

Nonetheless, most of the mystery about Pedro Namikaze had been clarified and he felt that he had gained a new and trustworthy agent for The Leaf.

Hiruzen left the basement and its main entrance with his two students. Then, Mina spotted him and quickly intercepted his path.

"Hiruzen, here it is. This is the diary that he wrote."

She handed it to the Hokage.

"I will look over it today. Thank you Mina."

"How is he?" asked Mina, a little worried.

"He is fine. He cooperated with me. I will make sure that he joins us too."

"Hiruzen, didn't you want to tell me something about him?"

"It won't be necessary Mina. My doubts about him have been cleared up. Don't worry. You'll see him again in a few days."

Hiruzen left with Tsunade and Orochimaru; and Mina felt more at ease, but the Hokage didn't tell her anything about his secrets…

Kagami reached the Uchiha village and immediately contacted Chief Fugan and the others in charge. He mentioned that he had seen with his sharingan that the Uchihas were going to be exterminated. The chief and the others didn't believe him. One of them even laughed out loud.

"This advanced sharingan of yours is starting to give you hallucinations. There is no way that the owners of the sharingan's power would be annihilated so easily. Even Konoha, The Leaf's biggest town, confirms our power by preferring to have Uchihas in their police force over any others of their allies. The Uchihas are here to stay Kagami."

Their attitude towards Kagami was the same attitude, or reaction, that people had when Galileo Galilei revealed that the Earth was not the center of the universe. He was the one that was right, but no one believed him because they believed what they wanted to believe—often, to their own detriment.

Ironically, Fugaku Uchiha—Fugan's young son, Sasuke's father, and the chief of the Uchihas during the time of their extermination—was present there. He, like his father, didn't believe any of it, since they thought that the Uchihas were the greatest because of their sharingans.

Kagami couldn't believe their ignorance. Were these his people?

Thankfully, he didn't have the chance to say anything else because one of his teammates from Konoha shot a tranquilizer dart at him before he could talk more. Then, the other three arrived and they carried him away. Before they left, they explained to the Uchiha chief that Kagami was acting a little weird lately, and they were having a difficult time at Konoha with their missions. Therefore, Kagami's warning was just a false alarm.

Hiruzen sent Orochimaru and Tsunade to check Jiraiya's home again (the place was a mess), even though he knew that no one would find anything if Pedro Namikaze was right—and indeed, he was. Then, he sat at his office, alone, and he began to read Pedro's diary. Pedro had not been very detailed during his talk about his time at the Earth Realm, so reading that diary was a major revelation for the young Hokage. He quickly realized that no one else should know about it, because if they did, it was very likely that they would want to get this sage power for themselves as well. It was crucial that it didn't fall in the wrong hands. Therefore, Hiruzen took the book to his house and found a secure place for it. He also continued reading it in a hurry. He read it even faster than Mina…

In the course of the next three days, Hiruzen got everything ready and in order. He had a talk with his other Anbu ninjas. He told them that Pedro Namikaze was an Anbu agent that came to alert The Leaf about some upcoming conflicts. He was going to join them as well, but not as an Anbu agent. Hiruzen decided to place Pedro as a surveillance ninja with Mina, who was more experienced in that position. He didn't want to bring him into Konoha's elite teams all of a sudden—they would ask many questions about him for sure.

The Hokage said the same thing to the elder leaders and counselors at The Leaf. He also mentioned that Pedro Namikaze went out of his way to save Mina, before he accomplished his goal of delivering the important information to The Leaf's Third Hokage. This showed that he cared about Konoha's ninjas. It was also a good excuse to place him outside of Konoha at first, since he proved that he could do well there.

Hiruzen also had a talk with Kagami and Mina.

Mina was secretly happy with the news he gave her…

After she left, he agreed with Kagami to keep what they knew about the earth sage as a secret. They were the only ones who truly knew everything. However, they didn't know that Mina had read the diary already…

Finally, Hiruzen freed Pedro Namikaze and gave him a small apartment to live, close to one of Konoha's exits. He also gave him new Anbu gear and an Anbu mask that he wanted Pedro to use, if he decided to stay at Konoha, in the past.

"I want you to stay with us. You will be a very valuable agent for The Leaf. For now, I want you to work with Mina. After what happened, I have decided that our surveillance ninjas will fulfill their duties in pairs. It will be safer if someone attacks them.

Eventually, I want you to join us in other missions and I want you to teach our youngsters all the things that you learned. I want you to finish your original mission. Think about it. Stay with us and make us your new present. Together, we will ensure that The Leaf's future will be better than the one you saw."

The Hokage extended his hand and gave Pedro a friendly handshake.

"I will stay," confirmed Pedro with a more eager attitude than before.

For the first time, the young Hiruzen started to see the earth sage of The Leaf as a good friend.

Pedro also asked himself if this would be the same Hiruzen that was going to save him and train him in the future. The reality was that it was the same Hokage. After all, Pedro Namikaze had been part of The Leaf's past already when the old Hiruzen found him. That past was happening now…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Open to Love


	40. Chapter 40: Open to Love

**CHAPTER 40: Open to Love**

In the following weeks, Pedro and Mina spent every day together, from the moment when the Sun awakened in the sky to the moment when it would begin to leave again. It was their duty to safeguard the area of Konoha's border where Mina's house had been built.

The days were long, but beautiful. And both of them remained vigilant, but they also had the chance to have conversations that extended themselves for hours, just like before. They were the best surveillance partners and the best company for each other, in the middle of that natural paradise within The Leaf. Being together for them was something natural. Their chemistry was truly amazing. There were no doubts, no awkwardness, and no disagreements during those days. The times they shared were always pleasant and completely free of all kinds of drama. You can say that they were meant to be together. And anyone who watched them would have thought that they were a couple already. However, other events happened before that…

Pedro Namikaze also began to spend some time at the Ichiraku Ramen open-air restaurant almost every day, after he returned late from fulfilling his ninja duties with Mina. He didn't eat there and he had his Anbu mask on when he was there. Before leaving, he would always order something from the boy and then he would leave. The boy never saw his face, but he often asked himself who that guy was and why he stayed there looking at the village every day. Didn't he know it already?

That open food shop was very centric and it brought Pedro many memories from the other Leaf that he had known. Being there awakened his memories of a Leaf that he was supposed to return to. And, he had the means to do it now with the sharingan. However, something was stopping him. He was starting to see that the younger Leaf was also a good place for him. The chances for a better future and a better Leaf were going to increase if he stayed there. In addition, something else was bothering him every time he thought about going back: he didn't like the idea of never seeing Mina again…

Little by little, Pedro also started to know more about the people from the younger Leaf. All of them walked by that shop and its restaurant at some point. (That place was very centric at Konoha.) So soon, Pedro knew more about others—even about Hiruzen's elite guards. He also talked with Orochimaru and Tsunade a few times. They had seen him without the Anbu mask before, so they already knew who he was. The kids were very nice and they reminded him a lot about the talks he had with Naruto there. In Pedro's mind, the future of Hiruzen's students was going to be a very bright one, just like the future that he had seen for the blonde Hokage Naruto.

Pedro never took the mask off when he was there because he also knew that Hiruzen didn't want to incorporate him into the other Anbu groups yet. He would have never guessed that that was going to be the reason why no one, besides Hiruzen, was going to recognize him when he arrived at the future Leaf (after the Third Hokage saved him). They were kids back then and they never saw the earth sage's face, so they could not remember him in the future…

One day, Mina also came to the ramen shop's restaurant, after Pedro was leaving with his usual order. She didn't notice him because he didn't use the mask when he was with her. However, he noticed her. He thought, for the first time, that he wanted her to stay with him—as if spending the whole day together wasn't enough.

He was going to go back to talk with her, but then one of the other Anbus from the elite groups walked up to her and removed his mask. This was the same guy that Pedro had seen a dozen times flirting with all the pretty girls—and from the looks of it, most of them had fallen for it too. The guy was very handsome, of course. (Even more handsome than our protagonist; we are talking about the sexy model from The Leaf here.) And everybody knew that this guy was one of the badass ninjas in town, even though Hiruzen never picked him for his Anbu squads (it's no wonder why…).

That guy was very good at his "hobby," so Pedro felt concerned when he saw him talking to Mina. Pedro didn't mind if the other women didn't figure it out, but this time it was Mina; and he cared about her. Obviously, he had forgotten that Mina was really difficult to deal with. It wasn't like that with him because she and he had a unique and harmonious flow together—even as friends—but he was an exception for that.

Pedro Namikaze didn't do anything because she could talk with whoever she wanted, and that was not supposed to be his business. However, he was still concerned about it, so he didn't leave. Simply put, he didn't like the idea of seeing Mina together with that guy. He told himself that it was because he didn't want to see his "surveillance partner" getting hurt or used emotionally, but, truth be told, he was also a little jealous. And this is normal for someone who is starting to fall in love…

Mina only had a short talk with the other guy and she didn't even smile. That was her normal self, after all. She only looked more lively than that when she was with Pedro. However, she was pretty and that was the only thing that this other guy cared about, so he gave it his best shot anyways. Regardless, he stopped when he noticed that Mina was the one who used the teleportation daggers. He had heard a lot about her before. Basically, if he did her wrong, she could kill him easily. That certainly discouraged him a little. Why would he go for the "teleportation ninja" when he already had others just as beautiful (and ten times as foolish) dying to be with him? (We should also mention that those other ladies didn't even know how to throw a knife, so they didn't represent a life threat for him. Also, they were after him, even though they already knew how he was. In other words, they—like him—were all about the looks.)

Mina was very different, without a doubt. She was tough. She was beautiful. She was as skilled as Hiruzen's personal Anbu guards. And she was attracted to men who were honorable, smart, trustworthy, and interesting, in ways that didn't have anything to do with how they looked. Maybe this was why Hiruzen had been her major crush before Pedro Namikaze. This was also why she didn't accept Danzo Shimura's proposal a few years back. Danzo was definitely more handsome than Hiruzen when they were young, and later as well, but there was nothing honorable about him. He wasn't good. He killed many innocent ninjas from other clans and always used "protecting The Leaf's interests" as his excuse. On the other hand, Hiruzen was a man worthy of admiration. Despite all the power that he had at The Leaf, you could tell that he was a good man that cared about the people that lived there. He never abused the power he had as Hokage for his personal convenience.

Unfortunately for Mina, Hiruzen was already in love with the woman that he married later on (Asuma Sarutobi's mother). And he always saw Mina as a good friend from his childhood, nothing more…

After Mina left the ramen shop's restaurant with a small box of food on her hands, Pedro joined her on her way to the main exit of Konoha. (The talk with the other guy had been short-lived. He also lost interest in her when he realized who she was.)

"Hey? I thought that you would be at your place by now."

Mina was glad to see him there, even though she saw him every day.

"I usually take a walk before I go to sleep and I also buy food at the new Ichiraku restaurant."

He looked too uneasy for someone who was just "taking a short walk before going to sleep."

"Mina, there is something that you have to know. That guy that you were talking to flirts with women on a daily basis. He does it as sport. You shouldn't trust him."

He sounded different than usual, as if something was perturbing him.

Mina was really fast at picking up what had happened. Clearly, Pedro was watching and he didn't like that the other guy tried to flirt with her. Mina let go of a small smile and began to laugh at first.

"What happens? Are you jealous?"

She was silently happy about it, but she gave him a different impression because she was a pretty serious woman, so laughter of that kind wasn't the norm for her. He thought that she was making fun of him. So, he removed his mask—that was one of the very few times when he did that inside the young Konoha.

"I just want the best for you."

He was looking straight at her eyes and his voice was clean and sincere like the water at the best beach on planet Earth.

"I am going back to my place. I will see you tomorrow at the Hokage's building, when we have the weekly meeting for the surveillance teams."

He put his Anbu mask on again. Then, he left.

That was the first of the only two times when their perfect chemistry was out of balance. He still wasn't 100% sure about what he felt for her, but he cared about her, that was undeniable. And she was able to see it that night, so her ideas of possible love with him began to gain strength.

The next day, all the surveillance ninjas met with the Hokage and with the elder leaders of The Leaf. (The "elders" were the equivalent of government officials with high rank.) Mina, Pedro, and all the others gave their usual reports about the state of things and about any incidents detected around Konoha. Hiruzen talked with Pedro after the reports were done and informed him that, in just one month, he would be joining one of the other Anbu teams that reported directly to him.

All the surveillance ninjas began to leave after they were done. Pedro also left, but Mina didn't. The youngest of the elder leaders of The Leaf called her as soon as she was done. The woman was Hiruzen's mother, Hiresha Sarutobi, and she wasn't really an "elder" in terms of age, since she was fitty-eight years old at that point. Hiresha had been recognized as one of The Leaf's best advisors for years. That was why they appointed her to be one of the "elder" leaders. (This small group had as much decision-making power at The Leaf as the Hokage himself.)

Hiresha asked Mina to take a walk with her.

"Come with me Mina, there is something that I want to tell you."

It seemed strange at first, but Mina knew her already, so she was sure that Hiresha had a good reason to call her. When they were walking by themselves, Hiresha gave her some advice. (This was what Hiruzen's mother was really good for; she was like a psychologist.)

"I have known you for a long time, since you and my son were classmates. You also remind me a lot about the way I used to be when I was your age. Your parents passed away during the Second Great Ninja War, so you probably don't have anyone who can tell you this now. Listen well to what I am going to say.

I know that after my son's rejection and his marriage, you chose to dedicate yourself to your ninja craft and to your duties outside Konoha. You were also wise for saying no to suitors of questionable moral character, even though all your other friends were getting married at that time. However, I have seen you for years, just like I have seen many others, and I see that you have closed yourself to love after that.

I wouldn't want you to miss an opportunity for real love with someone who really cares about you. You see, love for a woman can be a curse if you give it someone who doesn't feel a genuine feeling of care for you, but it is a true blessing if you share it with someone who does care about you and your wellbeing. A man like that is far more valuable than one who just desires you. That is because caring is the real recipe for true love.

I missed someone like that when I was your age because I wasn't open to love after Hiruzen's father left me; but, there is no reason for you to make my same mistake.

If you have your eyes wide open, like I do, you will notice that there is someone like that in your life now; someone who truly cares and who is surely a great person.

However, are you open to love now?

Don't answer me, but think about what I have told you. My real love, the one who truly cared about me, died in the Second Great Ninja War, before we even kissed once. He sent me letters from the battlefield because I was important for him…

I hope that The Leaf's teleportation ninja doesn't let someone like that get away from her. You have a chance for true love, like I did; whether you take it or not is up to you.

I have to leave now Mina; I hope you will find my words useful."

Mina didn't know what to say when Hiresha started to walk away, but she had to say something because the elder lady's words came from the heart.

"Thank you Mrs. Hiresha! I won't forget what you have told me."

Mina stayed pretty thoughtful for a while. Was Hiruzen's mother talking about Pedro Namikaze? It had to be him; who else could it be? (It obviously wasn't the player from the Ichiraku bar.)

Needless to say, Hiresha was referring to Mina's new surveillance partner. She had seen him several times too; and she noticed many positive things about him that reminded her about of that guy who had fallen in love with her for real. She also noticed that Pedro cared about Mina, without getting anything as a reward for it. Hiruzen had also told the elders that Pedro risked himself to save her, even though that wasn't part of his original mission. As an experienced advisor and as someone that cared about the people at The Leaf—just like her son Hiruzen—she felt that she had to give Mina a heads up because this case made her remember hers too.

Hiresha never shared any love with the one who truly cared about her and gave all her love to Hiruzen's father, who ended up leaving her anyways…

Those events didn't affect Hiruzen because he spent his entire childhood training with Tobirama Senju (the Second Hokage) and Hashirama Senju (the previous First Hokage, the founding father of The Leaf, and Tobirama's elder brother). The first two Hokages that made The Leaf what it was were like father figures for Hiruzen. This was why the Third—Hiruzen—admired the First and the Second so much. And eventually, he followed their same footsteps…

Thankfully, Mina's love story was not like Hiresha Sarutobi's. She was able to experience what true love was. Although it didn't come as easily as it came for Pedro Namikaze the first time…

That same day, when Mina arrived at her small house, she searched for the statue that she was finishing when she met Pedro. She lifted the cover she had over it and saw it again, headless, just as he left it that day. Everything had changed very much since then. That day he was a complete stranger and a potential enemy; now, he was the person that she enjoyed spending time with the most. She knew that he cared about her; his words, "I just want the best for you," came to mind. Nonetheless, she still wasn't completely sure about the way he felt, especially when it came to love.

And the "elder" lady was right; Mina had not been open—or even ready—for love in a long time. Now, she felt that she was open for it, but that question was still there: did Pedro feel the same way about her? Soon, she would have the answer for that…

The next morning, Pedro saw the statue outside of Mina's house, just like the day when he arrived.

"I am still amazed at how good it looks. Do you plan to finish it Mina?"

"I would like to do so, but I need to get the mold of someone's face to do it. It is a male Anbu ninja, so my own face won't work for it."

She was packing her stuff to leave with Pedro for their surveillance spot for that day.

Pedro noticed that the sizes and dimensions of the statue matched very closely with himself. It made sense because he was exactly the same height as Mina—5 feet and 8 inches tall.

"I can do it," said Pedro.

She looked at him surprised.

"What? Do you know how to make ceramic art pieces too?!"

"No, I can be your model for the face of the statue; that's what I meant. If I use the same Anbu clothes it has, our bodies will match pretty well. Besides, this would be much better than having to repay you twice its price. What do you say?"

Pedro smiled and Mina really liked hearing that. What she liked the most, however, was not that he volunteered himself for helping her with her hobby (although, that was a really charming action too); it was that he still remembered what she had told him since the very beginning. He had not forgotten anything she said!

Mina was delighted and a little surprised still.

"Ok, we will finish it together, but don't think this is going to be easy! And things are going to get messy!"

He never had doubts about helping her; on the contrary, he was glad that he could do it for her.

"I know that it is not easy, but look at how far you have taken it and it looks amazing. You should finish it because you never know who is going to be inspired by your work of art."

He didn't just help her. He also encouraged her to do what she loved. He was like an angel for her, in many ways. And none of it had been a coincidence—or even luck. He had been sent by the Sage of the Six Paths, who already knew what was going to happen there…

The outcome of their unique connection was inevitable. Both of them started to feel closer and closer to each other as the days went by. Pedro had a difficult time accepting what was happening to him because he had a truly special love with Maida Uchiha. And obviously, he had not forgotten it. However, day after day, the connection he had with Mina started to feel more and more like the one he had with Maida. And he began to think about Mina much more, of course. On the other hand, Mina had no doubts about him, and what she felt was only growing as she got to know him better.

Just one week after they began working on finishing the statue (late in the afternoons), she couldn't contain herself any longer. She had to know it already. She had her hands on his face, since she needed to feel his entire face with her wet fingers and palms in order to reproduce the same feel and form on the statue's face.

Then, she started touching his face as if she was caressing him, instead of working on the other stuff. And she asked the question:

"Pedro, are you open to love?"

She caught him completely off guard and, at that very moment, his mind had just remembered about Maida.

It had been a long time since the last time that he felt the loving touch of a woman who cared about him.

His instant reaction was to grab Mina's hands and to lead them to the two small buckets of clean water that she had nearby. (She used her hands wet with water, both on him and on the face she had to make, because it facilitated the whole process a great deal.)

His green eye started to change into a sharingan eye all of a sudden.

Mina noticed that his facial expression was quite ambiguous at first. It was as if the answer of "yes" or "no" was not clear for him.

"Let's continue tomorrow Mina. We both have to rest."

He let go of her hands and stood up. He grabbed the towel he used to dry his face and, right after that, he left.

"I'll be back early tomorrow."

Mina didn't even answer; she had a hurricane of emotions perturbing her. This was the second of the only two times when their great connection was put out of balance for a while. The first time it was because of Pedro's misunderstanding, and this time it was due to her misunderstanding.

Because of the way he looked, how he sounded, and how he touched her hands when he moved them (he was gentle with them), what he did didn't feel like a rejection, but she thought it was a big "no" for the question that she asked him. Mina felt frustrated and she almost cried after that. She thought that everything was perfect, until now. Was it possible that he didn't love her, despite all the things that he had done for her? Maybe he really wanted "the best" for her because he truly was a good-hearted man and not because of other "ulterior motives." Or even worse—from Mina's point of view—he was still in love with the Uchiha woman that he mentioned more than once in the diary. Either way, this felt very disappointing for her. It wasn't what she expected. And it certainly wasn't what she wanted.

The beginning of their love was what she really had in mind at that point. However, the reality was that their love had already started. It was born since the moment when they began to enjoy being each other's companions very much. Her doubts were what obscured that truth from her that day…

Pedro Namikaze started to regret what he did when Mina's touch reminded him of Maida Uchiha. He had to let Maida go. It was clear that Mina was feeling love for him too. He was feeling the same way, but, unlike Mina, he had the prior experience of a great love that his destiny took away from him. He had not forgotten Maida and she had always been a happy memory for him—especially during the two years at the Earth Realm. However, he had to let go of his deep attachment to that memory, if he wanted a second chance at realizing his dream. His dream was having a peaceful and happy family life with love and without wars and conflicts, not just for himself, but also for all the people at his clan, and even for the other clans as well. It was a very idealistic and unlikely dream, but that didn't stop him from wanting it. And wanting that dream was what took him to The Leaf at the very beginning…

When he arrived at his place, he spent a long time looking at his green eye on the mirror. (The sharingan became normal with him; with Maida it was always in its active form, leaving her with red eyes, or pupils, at all times, instead of her original green eyes. Apparently, the carrier made a difference for the sharingan's behavior, so the eye adapted to Pedro and to his innate abilities… This explained why Hatake Kakashi awakened the unique "copy" ability from his friend's sharingan, even though the original owner did not have that ability. This also explained why Maida's sharingan didn't behave the same way with her as with Pedro Namikaze…)

Finally, he realized that it was necessary to keep Maida as a happy memory and nothing more, if he wanted to open himself to love again. While looking at her green eye in the mirror, he came to grips with it:

"I'll never forget you Maida, but you are dead and I am still alive. I found a second chance to fulfill the dream that I once had with you. I have decided to embrace it. You and the sharingan will always be with me, and I will always remember you. I am going to open myself to love again. She feels like one in a thousand, just like you did. I feel that I have found the right partner for me in her. I can't let her go. I will always be thankful for the happiness that you gave me. I hope I can give that kind of happiness to Mina as well."

After hours of thinking about it, he came to grips completely with Maida's memory. As stated, he was never going to forget her—that was impossible. He just removed the road-block that it represented for his love with Mina. Finally, he was open to love again…

The next morning, when he arrived at Mina's house to pick her up for their surveillance duties, he didn't look or feel ambiguous at all. Mina seemed more serious and less happy though. She looked just like she did when Pedro met her—she didn't even smile back then.

"Let's leave already, we are a little late to arrive at today's location on time."

She didn't sound like "friendly" Mina, but rather like the 'squad leader' that she was supposed to be.

He didn't move and he grabbed her right arm, before she began to walk forward.

"Wait, I want to answer the question that you asked me yesterday.

I am open to love now. That had not been the case for a long time, but I met a very special woman that changed that.

I want to tell you that I am only open to love with you Mina. And I hope, I really hope, that you feel the same way about me."

Mina felt as if a lightning bolt of heat had gone through her whole body in an instant. She was out of words, but there was no need for them. His words, their eyes, their lips, and their hands did all the talking.

They hugged. They kissed. They looked like two teenagers that were crazy for each other—even though they were way beyond their teens at 28.

It definitely helped that they already knew each other very well because of how much time they spent talking every day. So, this love of theirs wasn't just initial desire. They also loved their talks that lasted for hours and there was nothing that they disliked about each other. Their connection had started as companionship and friendship, and later it became much more. They had many things in common too…

When they finished all that initial kissing, Pedro's lips looked light pink, like the soft color that Mina had on her lips. She barely used that, but she chose to use it that day. She just had a very thin layer of the pink-colored lipstick on her lips, but all of it ended up on his lips at the end.

"Yeah, I think we need to leave already. We are probably the only team late for that. Later when we come back, we can also finish the statue too. And…"

She interrupted him and they kissed again, before they finally began to walk. Both of them looked quite happy and cheerful, which is not a surprise…

After that day, they started to live as a couple. They were pretty close to that already, but they had not been intimate before and they always slept at different houses—Pedro at the apartment at Konoha and Mina outside the town, at her house. Let me tell one thing: that changed pretty quickly. It only took one week for Pedro to start spending all his nights with Mina. Basically, he barely went to the apartment at Konoha. He wasn't even sleeping there anymore.

For them, that month was the equivalent of a prolonged honeymoon. Their relationship—which was really good, even before—blossomed more. Mina's work of art was finished; and it really looked quite similar to Pedro Namikaze. It was a hand-crafted masterpiece that was going to make a difference in the future—during the time when her grandson was going to be the Seventh Hokage. Overall, everything was perfect for Pedro and Mina during those days of bliss.

Soon, Hiruzen was going to add him to one of the other Anbu teams that worked with him, so he would be able to remove his Anbu mask inside Konoha as well. He was going to be another well-known member of the younger Leaf.

Unfortunately—or fortunately, once you know the whole story—it didn't happen that way…

Just a few days before the change to Hiruzen's second team, Pedro's sharingan eye began to ache, as it had done before when he used it to its limit. He wasn't even using it now, so it was not normal. It felt as if it was warning him of something that would happen soon.

The night of the day when that happened, he was sleeping with Mina by his side. He had to get up and leave the bed because the sharingan's pain jumped up suddenly. When he reached a mirror and looked at it, he saw that the green eye had changed without his consent. It was now in its mangekyou form!

When he noticed it, the pain was already too sharp. He could feel how he was starting to lose consciousness; and it was all because of the mangekyou sharingan. He let himself fall on the floor slowly. And he already knew that he was going to see the Dark Realm again. This time it wasn't by his own choice though.

The Sage of the Six Paths knew that the true purpose of sending Pedro Namikaze to the past had been fulfilled by now. Therefore, the time to reveal the truth to him had arrived.

(Pedro and Mina were the parents of the legendary Fourth Hokage that would be known as the Yellow Flash of The Leaf. Their son, Minato Namikaze, saved The Leaf during the attack of the Nine-Tails fox. He also turned his son into the new jinchuuriki of the fox, in order to protect him. Minato also played a major role at the Fourth Great Ninja War, when Tsunade was the Fifth Hokage. He and the previous Hokages were summoned from the dead by Orochimaru to fight at that war. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that Minato Namikaze was Naruto's father. So, Pedro and Mina were Naruto's grandparents from Minato's side. And, needless to say, our protagonist did not know any of this yet, but he was going to find out eventually.)

The holy sage summoned Pedro Namikaze through his special sharingan. Hagaromo had the power to summon the carriers of the special sharingans to the Dark Realm. He could communicate with all of them through there, regardless of the boundaries of time and space that separated their bodies and their lifetimes. This time he chose to talk to Pedro Namikaze because Pedro was the one that he planned to meet soon.

Pedro was crucial to Hagaromo's plan against the upcoming threat because his mangekyou sharingan was the only one that had the ability to travel in time. And this was not Maida's ability, it was Pedro Namikaze's special ability—which became possible only because he became the carrier of a special sharingan eye.

(Even the holy sage's eyes didn't have that special ability.)

The Human Realm's biggest enemy was going to be revealed soon…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Revelations of the Sage of the Six Paths


	41. Revelations of the Sage of the Six Paths

**CHAPTER 41: Revelations of the Sage of the Six Paths**

Pedro Namikaze woke up and he saw Hagaromo Otsutsuki waiting for him once again.

The Dark Realm's ground and its sky looked as empty and vast as before. Despite all the darkness everywhere, the realm itself was quite peaceful and quiet, like the mind of the old Sage of the Six Paths.

The same could not be said about Pedro Namikaze's mind. He didn't want to leave the past anymore, so the last thing that he wanted was to see that place again. It also reminded him of the path that he didn't take; and it reaffirmed the existence of a future menace that he knew nothing about yet. Not to mention that he still didn't know much about Hagaromo Otsutsuki.

The holy sage, his real plans, and the "threat to the Human Realm" that he mentioned before were still a mystery. And—as if all of that wasn't enough already—Hagaromo had guided him to travel to the past, without telling him that the past was the real destination. He also made it possible for Pedro to travel to the Earth Realm. And he saved Pedro's life by showing him the way to learn one of the most powerful Uchiha genjutsus.

In spite of all that, it still wasn't clear if the holy sage truly deserved Pedro's trust or not. Was Hagaromo helping him or was he using him?

This time, Hagaromo put an end to Pedro Namikaze's doubts about him once and for all. However, getting Pedro to accept that he would have to make another trip in time was quite a challenge, even if it was a life-or-death matter. Hagaromo's revelations were what made him realize that there was no other choice…

Pedro Namikaze stood up and looked at Hagaromo. The holy sage seemed glad to see him, but Pedro's expression was the complete opposite.

"You knew what was going to happen. You knew that I was going to the past if I made the jump using the mangekyou sharingan. Why didn't you tell me about it? What was the purpose of hiding it from me? When will you tell me the truth behind everything you are doing?"

Pedro's reaction was a proof of disbelief. He didn't know that Hagaromo planned to tell him the truth this time. And Hagaromo didn't hesitate:

"Now. At this very moment I am going to tell you everything you may need to know.

I didn't tell you about the past because if you had known about it beforehand, then the events in history would have changed. And they would have led to a future where the Human Realm still falls under the rule of our nemesis, the Snake King."

Hagaromo's voice sounded wise and calm. Soon, Pedro's disbelief was washed away and replaced by a new-born concern about Hagaromo's first revelation.

"The Snake King?" asked Pedro.

"Yes, the King of the Realm of the Snakes. He is an ancient enemy of our realm. The first war I ever saw, when I was in my youngest years, was the war against the Snake King and his army. Back then my mother, the previous protector of our realm and the one known as Goddess Kaguya, defeated him. She sent him and the snakes back to their realm. However, even she came close to losing against him. She only won because she was the first human that obtained the power of ultimate chakra, a power that most of us can only dream of.

Nonetheless, she was never the same after the battle against him. Our realm was saved, but she was not. Ultimately, she became corrupted like the Snake King. Her ill-gained power took over her after that day. She had used it to end all wars and to unite the people. She also used it to stop our nemesis, but at the end, that same power turned her into the Ten-Tails chakra beast that terrorized and demolished our world for many years."

Pedro Namikaze already knew the end of that ancient tale:

"Wait, I have heard part of that story somewhere before. After that, the Ten-Tails was stopped by the Sage of the Six Paths. He sealed the beast and its endless power within himself, using a sealing technique that only he knew about. Then, he saved the world and shared the new power of chakra with everyone. His descendants and the people that were born after those events were capable of using chakra techniques, unlike before. That sage is the father and the creator of our ninja world."

Hagaromo scratched his head and thought out loud without talking:

"Creator of the world? That's a bit too much, even for mother Kaguya… It can't be helped. Legends from the past are always exaggerated. How am I going to tell him who I am while making it clear that I am not some cosmic deity?"

Hagaromo was finally revealing something, so Pedro was eager to know much more. He wanted to know everything.

"Hagaromo, why does the Snake King want to attack the Human Realm? Also, why would he have anything to do with you not telling me that you were sending me to the past? Wasn't he defeated by Kaguya? Why is he a threat again?"

Hagaromo finally stopped levitating in his seated position and came back to the ground. Then, he walked closer to Pedro while carrying his legendary staff—the same one he had used to seal the Ten-Tails, turning himself into the first jinchuuriki ever.

"Before I tell you everything, you need to know who I am.

I am Hagaromo Otsutsuki, but most people in your time do not know me by that name. In your time, I am known as the Sage of the Six Paths."

Pedro Namikaze stopped cold when he heard those last words. Even his breathing was halted for a couple of seconds. He started to realize that the staff, the white cloak, and even Hagaromo's rinnegan eyes were a very close match for the description that he had heard about the legendary sage.

Hagaromo seemed very calm though.

"Relax Pedro Namikaze. In case it bothers you, I am not God. Even mother Kaguya was not a true God. No living being can be a real God, even if they are the wisest and most powerful existence at their realm. Having godly power does not mean that you are a God either."

Hagaromo extended his right arm and opened his hand upside-down, showing the open palm to Pedro. It was human skin and a human hand, like any other.

"See? I am as human as you are, despite what all the legends have told you about me. Now, let me answer your other questions."

He returned his holy staff back to his right hand.

"I don't know why the Snake King invaded our world, since I cannot see what happens at the other realms. However, I suppose that conquering us was the most likely reason. I do not know what his new intentions might be either because my eyes can only see the future of the Human Realm.

He was defeated in the ancient war, but not killed, so revenge could be a reason. Although, there might be more than that involved.

I know that he will return because I have seen many paths that our realm's future can take. I saw how the Snake King was able to defeat even me, in some of them. He used my body to rule the Human Realm and took our world into oblivion. Our future under his rule was far too dark.

I saw all of it as soon as I obtained the sharingan's final form, when I was trying to find a way to defeat the Ten-Tails beast. I knew I had to change our future since that day. And I have dedicated most of my life to the purpose of stopping him and saving our realm.

However, even my power has a limit. I could only change events during my time and that wasn't going to be enough to defeat the Snake King. Some events from the future generations had to change as well, but I could not travel in time. Mother Kaguya certainly could do it, but she never used that power. And by the time I realized that it was necessary, the Ten-Tails had consumed her completely. There was no way to save her anymore.

Eventually, I found out that not all sharingan eyes were equal. Some had unique properties and abilities. Among those, few could awaken the mangekyou form and only one out of four-hundred from the later had a special type of sharingan—one that could communicate with others who also had that special type of eye. This was how I found a way to reach the future to change it. My only answer was reaching out to all the other carriers of a special sharingan to make the necessary changes through them. Unfortunately, this was only possible after they awakened the mangekyou; before that, I could not reach them through this realm. And very few of them awakened the mangekyou during the generations that followed, before the Snake King's return.

As you already know, you are one of these people. You are the most important one too, since only your sharingan has the special ability to make a time jump. You are crucial in my plan to save the Human Realm from the Snake King. And I need you to meet me in the past to accomplish that. You will have to use that ability again to travel back in time even more."

Even after all the things that Hagaromo revealed, a thought of Mina popped into Pedro's mind. There was a good chance that the world was going to fall apart, if he didn't leave, but he could not accept the idea of leaving the young Leaf and Mina behind. (Love of this kind can put a blinder on us sometimes. It also has the power to make us care about the loved ones more than anything else. Don't be surprised…)

Things had changed. This time he couldn't follow Hagaromo's path blindly, leaving everything else behind. He did it before, but now his situation was very different. He wasn't just thinking about himself and his dreams anymore. Now, there was someone that mattered just as much as him.

"Hagaromo, I'm sorry. I can't leave the past. This is where I want to build my life. I want to spend the rest of my life where I am now. I have found someone who has helped me to remember what love really is. I am much happier now. I know that I can make a better future here, for me and for the entire clan. Even the sharingan doesn't disagree with the way I feel now. I can't make the jump now and leave everything and everyone behind again. Not this time…"

Hagaromo crossed his arms and became serious and thoughtful for a few seconds. Unfortunately, he didn't have much of a choice.

"Pedro, this isn't about doing what I want and it is not about doing what you want either. None of this is about us. This is about saving all the people that live and breathe in the Human Realm from becoming slaves to the Snake King.

That was our inevitable fate in all the futures that I saw at first. For a long time, I thought that there was no way to avoid it. That was, until I saw the future where both you and the blonde Hokage were present. That was the only path where the end was different, and both of you had to be there for it to occur.

If you don't make the next trip in the following four days, then the other saviors of the future will be defeated and the Human Realm will fall after them.

Time is critical and we don't have much of it anymore. If you wait more than four days to make this decision, then it may be too late to change the most likely future, which is not a good one."

Despite the gravity of the situation, Pedro was having a hard time deciding what to do; he simply couldn't throw Mina away and leave, even if the world's future was on the balance.

Hagaromo realized that, so he chose to reveal certain parts of the possible futures to Pedro, in order to convince him about taking the next step.

"Pedro Namikaze, if you stay in the past you will be happier at first, but in the long-term, the changes that you will cause will result in the failure of my plan. All the big clans at the Human Realm will be destroyed and the Snake King will take over. Therefore, everything will be lost at the end. There will be no future for you, nor for the ones that you loved at The Leaf.

If you stay, years will pass and both you and Mina will die to save the Fourth Hokage, during Madara Uchiha's attack. The Fourth himself won't be as great in this alternate timeline, as he was at the other Leaf—a timeline in which you decided to make this trip now. The boy who can bring true peace and end the wars among clans will not become a jinchuuriki either; nor will he be the Hokage, since his drive to achieve it will be far less in this past that you changed.

Eventually, the Snake King will return and the saviors who were going to stop him will not be ready. You won't be alive at that point and neither will I. This would become the actual future if you stay in the past now. It is one of the futures where the Snake King destroys any hopes we had for a better tomorrow."

The situation was beginning to worry Pedro Namikaze.

However, something else deviated his thoughts for a moment.

"Who is the boy that will bring true peace and the end of wars?"

The old Hagaromo smiled.

"You met him before. You must have seen him in your visions too. Don't you know who he is yet?"

Pedro remembered his visions and the ones about Naruto Uzumaki came to mind. The boy's optimism and his personal growth were remarkable. In fact, Naruto became a sage and went back to The Leaf in far less time than what it took Pedro and with half his age. Something about the blonde boy was truly special—and it was not a sharingan.

"Naruto?" asked Pedro.

"Yes, he is the one. However, he won't be able to stop the Snake King on his own. He will need our help.

I will now show you what is going to happen in the future of your original timeline, if we don't change things before that day arrives."

Hagaromo looked at the vast dark sky and used both his staff and his rinnegan eyes. The sky began to show a new vision, just like the ones that Pedro had seen, but this time it was Hagaromo's vision.

It showed a man walking alone towards Konoha with a black cape that had no hood. He still was several miles away from the town at that moment. The man had a very familiar face and his eyes carried the highest power of the extinct Uchiha Clan. One of his eyes looked like Hagaromo's rinnegans and the other one looked similar to Pedro's sharingan, but its mangekyou form had a very different pattern. Pedro Namikaze quickly recognized who it was and it surprised him. The man was Sasuke Uchiha—Naruto's friend and the kid who had been the only survivor from the extermination that took place at the Uchiha village. (Just for reference: Zet, Su, Spiral, the masked Uchiha, and Sasuke's brother were the major force behind the destruction of the Uchihas. Zet and Su's true goal was finding an Uchiha that could end up awakening the rinnegan, just like Hagaromo and Madara, but there was no one like that, even at their own village.)

Sasuke was 28 years old, just like Pedro Namikaze. Twenty years had gone by at The Leaf after Pedro's first departure…

Then, the future menace appeared again. The man of the black cloak and the snake showed up, but this time the white snake was not with him. He wasn't alone though…

The man's face wasn't visible because of the cloak—just like before. However, it seemed like Sasuke knew him and he knew Sasuke as well.

"Look at who we have here. It's the Hokage's favorite henchman."

The man behind the cloak sounded both sarcastic and threatening.

Sasuke unsheathed his sword and turned his right eye into the eternal mangekyou sharingan, which he had obtained from his brother, Itachi Uchiha. His other eye was already a rinnegan since the days of the Fourth Great Ninja War—which happened a few years after Pedro left The Leaf…

"I see that you got yourself a new body. What happened with the previous you? What are you plotting now?"

The unknown man laughed and then he got all quiet. At that moment, a white being and a black being began to raise from the ground at his two sides. The one on the left side was strikingly similar to Spiral and the one on the right looked like a human-shaped black mass. The black one quickly molded itself into the same shape as Spiral, but he was black everywhere, instead of white. Their names were Black and Spiral. This Spiral was just like the other Spiral that we saw before, but Black was not exactly like Su Otsutsuki (Black Zetsu). Unlike this original Black guardian, Su Otsutsuki had been a human before…

Spiral grew a white sword out of his hand and Black did the same thing, but he made a black sword. They handed the swords to their true creator. Once the man of the cloak grabbed them, each sword started to emit a powerful aura that had its same color. The two strange beings at his side went back into the ground and appeared on Sasuke's opposite side, a few meters behind his back. It looked like all three of them were getting ready to fight Sasuke together.

Sasuke started to look concerned as soon as he recognized the other two, based on his memories from the Fourth Great Ninja War. He looked back at the main guy, who was holding Spiral's white sword and Black's black sword.

"How did you do this?! Aren't these White and Black Zetsu!? They were destroyed in the war years ago!"

The man of the cloak made a white-and-black cross in front of himself, while holding the white sword horizontally and the black sword vertically. He was ready to begin the battle.

"Not quite Sasuke Uchiha. Those two were my former students at the Realm of the Snakes and they still live. They were just a pair of traitors that stole my power. They were not my guardians either. Spiral and Black were my original guardians. And now that they have been reborn, my original plan will be fulfilled. Eventually, I will also kill the two traitors, but now I am more concerned with my return."

Sasuke seemed confused.

"What are you talking about? Have you gone insane?"

The enemy smiled because he already knew what was coming.

"Our talking time is over Sasuke. You wanted to know what I was plotting, didn't you?

I plan to take out the Hokage and his right-hand man, not together, since I know how powerful you two are.

After that, my new takeover of the Human Realm will begin."

Finally, Sasuke felt the alarm of the true threat that they represented. He instantly summoned a bird and gave it an urgent message that he had prepared before—to be ready if an event of this magnitude showed up.

Spiral attempted to catch the bird by enlarging one of his white arms to grab it—he clearly wasn't human. However, Sasuke sliced his arm off with his thunder-style strike, the Chidori. Then, their intense battle began. It was the man of the black cloak and his two main guardians, Spiral and Black, versus Sasuke. It was evident fairly quickly that all three of them were quite powerful, even in comparison to Sasuke.

Sasuke used an all-mighty thunder-based technique with his sword, but, shockingly, the unknown enemy also used the same thunder technique with his two blades and cancelled out Sasuke's attack with an equivalent but opposite force. Sasuke used the infernal fire blaze jutsu and the enemy stopped it with another fire-based technique that was just as intense. Finally, they got into a great sword battle, but after Black and Spiral joined, Sasuke simply couldn't keep up with all three of them together.

Sasuke used his Susanoo chakra armor—something that surpassed all the chakra armors from all the sage modes—and he went all out on them. However, nothing seemed to be enough to defeat them. Genjutsu didn't seem to work on them either. He just couldn't keep them back!

Things got out of hand when the man of the black cloak used a strange never-seen-before technique with his two swords. With a single dark-and-light dual strike, he sliced off the two wings from Sasuke's Susanoo armor. Then, Spiral and Black grabbed and immobilized the legs of Sasuke's Susanoo. Sasuke was forced to release the Susanoo before the same technique that cut off the wings could be used directly on him.

He also used the Amaterasu flames technique on Spiral and Black; but it had no effect on Black, and Spiral simply removed and grew back the leg where the flames landed. Their abilities were quite unreal.

The rinnegan eye—the final sharingan—was Sasuke's last resort and it certainly was the most powerful asset he had. It kept them back thanks to the "almighty push" technique, which pushed all living things and all objects away from the rinnegan's carrier. Unfortunately, it only worked above the surface and one of his adversaries had a perfect counterattack for that. Black went underground and he got a hold of Sasuke's legs. Everything went downhill after that.

Sasuke lost the battle when Black and Spiral immobilized him. He couldn't even use the rinnegan anymore.

The unknown one walked up to Sasuke.

"It is too bad that you lost. I was starting to see why you are The Leaf's top secret agent now. I certainly enjoyed the great sword duel with you, but all good things must come to an end. I am sure that I will enjoy the battle with the Seventh Hokage even more."

Sasuke began to think that, maybe, this guy was someone new, rather than the person that he expected at first.

"Who are you?! Are you who I think you are?"

"Yes and no," answered the main enemy with a smile.

Then, he removed his black hood and showed his new identity to Sasuke.

Sasuke showed an emotion on his eyes that wasn't common for him at all. The emotion was fear: fear for the Hokage, fear for his daughter, and fear for the future, which he was not going to see.

Pedro Namikaze and Hagaromo did not see the enemy's identity because, just like before, the vision did not show his face.

After that, Pedro could see how the enemy killed Sasuke with a twilight slash that used the black sword and the white sword together.

Then, the vision changed to the adult Naruto, who was also 28, like Pedro Namikaze. It was great for Pedro to see that the enthusiastic boy that he once knew was the new Hokage at The Leaf. Unfortunately, disaster struck there too, and Pedro was able to see it in Hagaromo's vision…

Naruto received Sasuke's message with a red bar, which warned him about a high and immediate threat for The Leaf. He pressed a single key on his cellphone (apparently, they had had technological advances at The Leaf in those 20 years that went by) and, in a matter of a couple of minutes, the Anbu ninjas that were his personal guards arrived at the new office of the Hokage (which looked much more modern than Hiruzen's). Naruto also opened another message he had received that same morning. It said:

"Dear Seventh Hokage,

If you want to see your top secret agent again, come and meet me outside of Konoha's main entrance right now."

Naruto and his ninjas headed for the main exit at their town. They knew that it could be a trap for the Hokage, so they made it look like Naruto was going alone. Meanwhile, the other ninjas followed him, ready to strike down any enemy nearby. When they reached the main entrance, Naruto saw someone standing about 1/8 of a mile away. The guy was wearing a black cloak to conceal his identity.

Naruto walked all the way and stopped just six meters away from the stranger. His ninjas also followed through the multitude of trees on the sides of the road. The Anbu ninjas didn't find anyone else in the area; it was just the stranger at the center of the road. Needless to say, they were ready to attack that stranger if he attempted anything against the Hokage. One of the ninjas even had a gun pointed at the potential enemy. (These were "modernized" ninjas, so arrows got replaced pretty quickly. And that was no surprise. Some of them even started to prefer guns over shurikens—the lazy bums!—but they still had to pass their shuriken-related trainings.)

Naruto was the first to talk:

"Who are you and where is Sasuke?"

When it heard Naruto's voice, the white snake came out from within the cloak and it encircled itself around the stranger's hips. (This time, the white snake was with him too.)

The man didn't answer, but his full offensive began:

"Grand summoning jutsu!"

He summoned the same giant white snakes that Pedro Namikaze had seen him summon in his own vision, when the guy had to battle Madara Uchiha and the tailed beasts outside The Leaf. It was just like before, but this time he did it against Naruto and The Leaf.

The giant snakes raised a major alarm for Konoha and for Naruto's team of Anbu ninjas. They were the perfect distraction because everyone thought that they were the main concern. However, Spiral and Black appeared behind Naruto and, together with their master, they used a triangular teleportation jutsu that transported them and Naruto to a different place. Now… Naruto was alone with them.

As soon as they arrived at the other place, the white snake left them and took cover nearby. The man of the cloak revealed that he was carrying the previous black and white blade too. They arrived at a deserted valley with no one on sight anywhere.

Spiral didn't like seeing that the small white snake was not going to participate in the battle. It was just going to watch, as usual.

"Hey! Why does he get special treatment while we always have to be the ones fighting the most powerful humans!? This is not fair!"

Spiral sounded like a spoiled little kid.

On the other hand, Black sounded like a calculating old man:

"Stop complaining and pay attention you fool! This one is the carrier of the Nine-Tails chakra beast. He will be even more difficult than the Uchiha."

The man of the cloak held his two swords with one hand and revealed another sword that he was carrying. It was Sasuke's sword. He held it by the tip of the blade and threw it all the way to where Naruto was. It fell right in front of Naruto. Then, the menace raised his hood with one hand—without removing it—and revealed his face to the Seventh Hokage.

It wasn't visible in the vision, so Pedro and Hagaromo didn't see the face, but Naruto did (and the same goes for us, the viewers).

The man was Kagami Uchiha and his eyes were Sasuke Uchiha's eyes. He had taken the mangekyou sharingan, the rinnegan, and even Sasuke's sword, after their battle. This was a very different Kagami though. He had a new violet skin color around the border of his eyes and his skin was more pale now. It looked very similar to the skin of the thin pale kid, Orochimaru.

Naruto picked up Sasuke's sword and the changed Kagami talked:

"Sasuke Uchiha is dead. Even for me, it wouldn't have been wise to fight both of you together. Now, it should be much easier to take you down Seventh."

As Naruto looked at the enemy's new eyes—which were Sasuke's former sharingans—he felt the kind of fury that he had not felt since the battle with the past Akatsuki leader, who had killed many people that he cared about.

Naruto held Sasuke's sword and his body was engulfed by the all-mighty yellow chakra of the Nine-Tails fox—who was his closest and most powerful ally. Naruto was a sage from the Realm of the Toads, but his "chakra mode," which was the perfect union of the fox's grand power with his own, was even beyond a sage mode, in terms of raw power and duration. It allowed him to use mighty attacks that used the yellow chakra itself as a weapon, instead of using an element, such as wind—which his primary elemental type. In addition, this yellow chakra mode provided even more protection than the chakra shield that the earth sages could use.

The battle started after Naruto's response:

"I will get Sasuke's sharingans back.

You are going to pay for what you have done!

Multi-shadow-clone jutsu!"

Naruto created forty shadow clones that also had the chakra mode. Therefore, each one of them could do severe damage, even if they could be taken out with just one or two strong attacks. (Naruto was the only one who could create this many clones with that technique because the number of clones depended on the amount of chakra; and he had more chakra than anyone else, since he was the jinchuuriki of the ninth tailed beast—the most powerful one.)

Even the white snake—who was the previous Snake King—took notice of Naruto's power.

"This one is the real deal. His abilities remind me of Hagaromo Otsutsuki and his sons. These abilities can challenge even the new king and his guardians. They will have to use their full power to beat him.

I may also have to join them, if necessary. We can't afford to lose now, at the very end, and in the last battle that we need to win to bring back the true King to the Human Realm.

All three, or rather, all four of them and me must beat the Seventh at all costs."

The white snake was simply watching and analyzing the battle to enter and strike at the ideal time, if necessary. It looked like it was the weakest out of the Snake King's guardians, but it was still quite deadly; and many years ago it had been powerful too, but the current Snake King took away most of its power and turned it into one of his guardians, in exchange for letting it live…

The Kagami of the snake-like eyes never removed the black cloak, so only Naruto saw his face. Pedro Namikaze and Hagaromo saw what happened there, but they didn't see that the unknown one looked like Kagami. What was obvious was that he was extremely good at swordplay with the dark and the light blade. Naruto attacked him with Sasuke's sword and using large chakra hands that grew from the yellow chakra cover that he had. Some of Naruto's clones also joined the original to fight against Sasuke's killer. Then, the "dark" Kagami began to use light and dark sword slashes that covered areas that were far beyond the swords' normal reach. Basically, each slash was reaching as much as ten meters in front of it—and anything in that path got cut. It made it difficult to get too close to him.

Meanwhile, Spiral displayed his full power against Naruto's shadow clones. He introduced his hands in the ground and used his "spiral growth jutsu," which was a technique like Dormon's forest growth, but instead of trees, it summoned snake-like branches that kept on growing in spiral patterns. These white branches looked a lot like the ones that Zet (White Zetsu) used in the battles at Maida's village. Spiral's branches were even worse because they had spines and they kept on growing nonstop, as long as he kept his hands attached to the ground. Spiral ended up covering the whole place with his "alien-like" forest and any clones that got trapped by the white branches didn't take long to disappear.

Black kept on following the original Naruto to attempt to catch him and immobilize him, just like he did with Sasuke. However, some of the clones blocked his path. He turned his hands into two long swords and began to fight them. He also caught one of the clones and used it to fight the others. He ended up absorbing that clone's chakra too, until it disappeared. Apparently, Black recharged his own power when he did that. And it was not optional for him; he had to do it to sustain his life force when he wasn't attached to someone else's body. Otherwise, he could die, since his body could not sustain itself on its own for too long… (This was why Su Otsutsuki had to be attached to Zet most of the time, after he gained Black's powers and properties. This was also why he wanted to revive his mother, Goddess Kaguya, since she would make the most powerful "attachment body" for him; and she was also the ideal way for him to rule the Human Realm. She had been the most powerful human, after all, and the first one who had the powers of both absolute chakra and special eyes…)

Black had the abilities to consume someone else's chakra and to gain control of a body. He also had Zet's "branch growth" ability, but at a far less powerful and much less grotesque level than Spiral's growth technique. Finally, Black was capable of blending himself with the ground, which made him very difficult to catch, if he ever decided to escape.

The snake-like Kagami was still a mystery though. He used various elemental techniques, such as a very heavy wind that pushed Naruto back, and a thunder-style slash with the white sword—the same one that he used versus Sasuke. This was a real mystery because the true Kagami could only use fire-style techniques and sharingan-based powers. There is no doubt that there was something strange about this "other" Kagami. It was as if he was a whole different person using Kagami's body.

Eventually, both Spiral and Black got into the battle with the original Naruto too.

Naruto cut Black in half with a rasen-shuriken (a giant wind-based shuriken of yellow chakra) and blew away half of Spiral's body with a rasengan (an arm-sized ball of wind and chakra moving at incredibly fast speed). Nonetheless, Spiral still managed to grab him using his other hand, and Naruto felt how the white being began to immobilize him (Spiral also had that ability, but with a lower intensity than Black, who also consumed the victim's chakra. Spiral could only control the victim. We had seen him use that before on the Uchiha of the orange mask. However, that time he grabbed the guy using his entire body, and now he only got one hand on Naruto, so it wasn't as powerful.)

It was then that Naruto unleashed Kurama's full power (Kurama is the name of the Nine-Tails fox). When the giant fox appeared around Naruto, as a large body of yellow chakra, Spiral was pushed away.

The battle with Naruto in the full "tailed beast mode" was the only time when the man within the cloak and his guardians were pushed back easily. You could say Naruto was winning against all three of them, but this was also part of the enemy's plan. The other Kagami already knew that Sasuke's mangekyou sharingan was one of the fox's few weaknesses. Thus, he planned to make Naruto unleash the Kurama first; then, he would use Sasuke's sharingan to stop the fox's power long enough to defeat Naruto.

Eventually, the chakra fox around Naruto caught the man of the cloak with its mouth and, as soon as that happened, Kagami used Sasuke's mangekyou sharingan on Naruto to control the fox's mind. Kurama didn't let him do it, but Naruto lost the fox's power temporarily and Kagami was free again.

Naruto quickly realized what happened, so using the chakra he had left from the tailed beast mode, he made another barrage of clones to win time. Then, he started to gather chakra for his sage mode.

It was clear that Naruto could have beaten them if he had help from others, such as Sasuke. However, the man of the cloak didn't wait any longer to use it, since he saw a real threat in Naruto. He used an all-new never-seen technique from an unknown style, before Naruto reached 100% of the frogs' sage mode.

"Zeta-style darkness jutsu!"

Everything began to turn dark and soon Pedro Namikaze could not see anything else. This looked exactly like what happened when he saw the battle of this unknown menace against Zet and Su, and even in the battle against his alternate future-self—the First Namikage. Everything went dark, then the opponents were defeated, no matter how powerful they were.

This time, when the vision and the light came back, the outcome was different.

The shadow clones were gone, but Naruto had impaled the man of the cloak through the right side of the chest—not at the heart but close—with Sasuke's sword. However, Black's hand was holding the white snake, in the form of a sword. And the Kusanagi Sword (the snake) had pierced Naruto through the stomach too. Spiral was holding Naruto as well.

The main enemy didn't look defeated though, even after Sasuke's sword went through him.

The lord of the black cloak looked at Naruto and said his final words to him:

"You are quite remarkable to have done this in the middle of my finishing technique and without the fox's power. However, I won't die so easily. Our battle is over Seventh. I'm sure you realized that my guardians could have killed you already, but they didn't. That is because I have a much better plan for you. The most powerful human at the Human Realm shall be the one that seals my return with his own hands."

The man of the cloak removed Sasuke's sword from his body and used another strange "Zeta" jutsu that had not been seen before. After a flash of light that engulfed them, Naruto disappeared!

Then, the man of the cloak removed the entire cloak at once and threw it away!

He looked like Naruto!

What happened there!?

Pedro Namikaze could not believe it.

"That can't be possible! There is something that we are not seeing! Something else must have happened during that flash of light!" stated Pedro, but Hagaromo didn't say anything about it.

The new Naruto had Sasuke's eyes, a much more pale skin, and a violet-looking skin color around his eyes. He looked evil and seemed like a total opposite of the true Naruto.

"I was starting to worry already, so I joined you. It looks like my timing was perfect," said the white snake to Naruto.

"Don't worry. We are finally ready now that we have both the rinnegan and the tailed beast's chakra."

They used another teleportation jutsu and went back to a location that was just a mile away from The Leaf's main town—which was still busy subduing the giant white snakes.

There, the dark Naruto prepared himself and with the help of the other three—Black, Spiral, and the white snake—he summoned the portal that had not been opened at the Human Realm since Hagaromo's time. It had been more than a hundred years since then…

The phenomenon was a gigantic oval-shaped black-and-violet portal that connected the Realm of the Snakes to the Human Realm. Something of a pretty large scale was about to happen there…

Hagaromo terminated the vision at that very moment with a single move of his holy staff; but, was there more of it?

"What was about to happen there? Why did you stop it?" asked Pedro.

Hagaromo looked very disappointed after seeing that particular vision of defeat for the 40th time.

"He was going to summon the Snake King back to the Human Realm. This is one of the many alternate futures where he wins and our realm falls. The only ones who could do anything were defeated.

This is why I need you. I can't help them if I don't have your support for my plan.

Your presence will be essential to change this dark fate.

However, you must see me in person first. That is what your next destination will be: a visit to my time. Then, both you and I will be ready to stop the Snake King and to lead our world to its best possible future."

Pedro Namikaze looked very serious, but his way of thinking about this had changed drastically, after seeing what happened in the future of his true timeline (if he didn't help with Hagaromo's plan). He understood that if he didn't do it, there would be no future anymore—at least, not for the humans.

"Hagaromo, what do I have to do to change this fate? How can the Snake King be stopped?"

Due to the tone of his voice, it was clear that now he was willing to cooperate with the holy sage.

"I am glad to know that I can count with you Pedro. I need you to gather your belongings, which include your large and small summoning scrolls, your diary from the Earth Realm, and the book I wrote—the one named Ancient Summoning Craft. With these items, you must come to the desert in the Land of the Sand in just four days from now."

Hagaromo looked at the sky again and it began to show an image of the desert, which was at the Human Realm, close to the Clan of Sand (Gaara's Clan).

"You must make the trip back in time to this location at the desert. Use your mangekyou sharingan and my special seal, just like you did to travel to Mina's location. You shall arrive there and you will be able to meet me in person. There are certain things that you must learn from me before you return to your original time. Otherwise, you won't be able to help them to stop the Snake King."

Pedro still wasn't sure that he would be able to do that.

"Even if I see the desert and use the mangekyou form to make it a time teleportation, instead of a normal teleportation for the location only, how will I know that the empty desert is your desert? How will I know that I will appear there in the right year and at the right time?"

Hagaromo put one of his hands on Pedro's shoulder.

"This is why only you can make the jump. Just having the ability to make the jump is not enough to be precise. However, her eye can also see the best path to take, so you will know the right desert and the right moment when you see it. Just make sure that you are using the sharingan. Also, make sure that you are in sage mode when you travel to the desert."

Hagaromo began to walk in the opposite direction and it looked like he was ready to leave the Dark Realm.

"Wait! Why am I going to need the sage mode?"

Hagaromo stopped walking and he began to levitate in the air, like before.

Then, he answered:

"You will know why when you arrive. Just remember that it will be necessary.

Next time, you will meet the real me, instead of this vision that you see now. I am not alive in your time, so this is the only way for us to communicate now."

Hagaromo started to do the same thing he did last time before he left.

Pedro Namikaze knew much more now, but he still had dozens of questions to ask him.

"Wait! How do you know that my eye was hers first?! Will I be able to return here after this trip!?"

Pedro was quite agitated, but Hagaromo was calm and ready to leave already. He knew that there was no need to say anything else.

"Our world can't wait Pedro Namikaze. And I count on you to help me save it. Just remember that one of my sharingan's abilities is to see the future of our realm; yours can make the time and location jumps, and hers was able to make the best choice for the future. This is why I need you, and not someone else.

(The new carriers of a sharingan gained the previous owner's abilities and developed their own unique abilities too. Kakashi and Sasuke were other examples of this in the series.)

I look forward to seeing you soon Pedro.

Good luck."

The final movement that Hagaromo made with the staff, along with his use of the rinnegan, ended their connection via the Dark Realm of the Special Sharingan. Thus, Hagaromo's living vision began to disappear and Pedro's consciousness started to go back to his true location.

When he woke up, he was in a hospital at The Leaf. Half a day had gone by and he didn't wake up no matter what. Mina had called one of the other surveillance teams and they took him to Konoha's hospital.

The only people he saw when he opened his eyes were Mina and Hiruzen. An old nurse had checked him, but she determined that he didn't have anything.

This was Konoha's only hospital at that time, so Hiruzen always made sure that he gave it at least three visits per week to ensure that everything was working, and to see how the injured ninjas were doing. This time he also saw Mina, so he found out about what happened to Pedro pretty quickly.

Pedro didn't look particularly happy.

Obviously, he was glad to see that they were there for him; but, how was he going to tell them what he had to do?

Mina didn't care about explanations, she was happy to see that he was ok. However, this wasn't the first time that the Third Hokage had seen such a case. This same case happened to Kagami Uchiha four times before. For a minute, Kagami's "secret" stories about "the holy messenger of the special sharingan" started to make more sense to Hiruzen.

"Pedro, I am glad to see that you are awake now. What happened during your time asleep? If you can't say it here, then both you and Mina can go with me to my house and you can tell us what happened there."

Mina looked very upset when she heard that.

"Are you serious!? He just woke up and you want to interrogate him already. Can't you stop being the Hokage for a minute?!"

Pedro began to sit first. Then, he started to stand up from the bed.

"I am ok now. Don't worry Mina.

Hiruzen, we will take your offer. It's been a while since I see the Hokage's house, which was a very nice place. And yes, I will tell you everything there."

Mina's facial expression looked like she was saying "what?" to herself. Hiruzen's proposal seemed crazy to her, but Pedro accepted it right away (so she was the one that looked like the "bad guy" in the room for a second).

Hiruzen already knew that Pedro would have something important to say that he could only reveal in private—just like Kagami's case.

When they left the hospital, they didn't go to Mina's place; they went to Hiruzen's house. Hiruzen's wife and their baby—Asuma—were not there at that moment, so they had complete privacy and only Hiruzen and Mina heard what Pedro said.

Knowing how critical his situation was, Pedro Namikaze decided to tell them everything that they didn't know, including what Hagaromo told him during his last visit to the Dark Realm.

The young Hiruzen and Mina were the only people from the past that he trusted unconditionally. Nonetheless, he didn't tell them names or specific details because he knew that it could end up affecting the future. He referred to Hagaromo as "the holy sage" and to the adult Naruto as "the Hokage from the future." He didn't mention that Naruto was the Nine-Tails fox's jinchuuriki or the Seventh, but he told them about how Naruto's battle with the unknown enemies began, and how it ended.

Hiruzen knew that it was the truth because many details were a perfect match for the things that Kagami had described about "the holy messenger of the sharingan."

Mina didn't know what to say. As soon as she found out that he was forced to leave—in the same way as how he arrived from the future Earth Realm—she began to feel a gloomy aura of emotions around her. This wasn't the way their love was supposed to end. She was already thinking that they would make the best "ninja" parents ever. This had never been in her plans…

Hiruzen, on the other hand, believed in Pedro Namikaze even more after that. He believed that this man was going to end up being crucial for saving The Leaf at some point (based on what he saw when he was a kid). He immediately looked for the diary and he handed it back to its creator. He had read it completely, so he already knew how Pedro was going to save King Enma's tribe in the future.

In Hiruzen's mind, the only thing left was to give this good and heroic friend of The Leaf the best farewell that he could. Mina could not accept this turn of events though.

Due to the circumstances, only Hiruzen and Mina would be present at Pedro's second departure. However, it was going to be much more difficult for Hiruzen than anything he could have imagined; and the reason for that was what he found out about Mina, the day before Pedro Namikaze left The Leaf again…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Second Departure


	42. Chapter 42: The Second Departure

**CHAPTER 42: The Second Departure**

Three days went by after Hiruzen and Mina found out the truth from Pedro…

He had to leave during the fourth day—and not later—so Hiruzen had decided, since the day of their talk, that he would assign their surveillance duties to someone else. That way, Pedro and Mina would be able to spend these last days together, without having to worry about anything else. (Hiruzen was a clever man, so he already knew that they were a couple, even though they didn't show it at Konoha, since they were supposed to be just "work" partners.) Furthermore, Hiruzen decided that he would meet both of them one mile away from Konoha's main entrance, in the morning of the fourth day—at 4 a.m. when even the ninjas were sleeping. The Hokage was going to go alone too; this time, even his Anbu ninjas would not know about it—or so he thought…

On this third day, just 16 hours before Pedro's departure, the Third gave the hospital his second visit during that week. Last time, he spent almost the entire hour with Pedro and Mina, so he didn't check how everything was going at the other floors. This time he did it; and he found out something that changed his whole day.

In the second floor, where babies and kids under five were taken care of, Hiruzen saw a list of names on a paper with no title and he asked the medical ninja at the reception there about that list:

"Good morning Anna, how is everything going? Do you know what is that list over there?"

"Good morning sir! It's good to see you. I have been very busy lately. A list? Oh yes, that list; it has names of women from the last pregnancy tests that got a positive result. I must have forgotten to write a header on it. It looks like we will be having a bunch of new babies here in nine months!"

Hiruzen—not just as Hokage, but as a normal human being—felt a bit of curiosity, so he took a closer look at the list on the paper. And close to the bottom, he saw it: Mina Hatake was in the list. (Mina was a cousin of Kakashi Hatake's father.) At first, Hiruzen was surprised, but in just a couple of minutes he thought of it as good news. Obviously, he already knew who the father was…

"I wonder how they will react when I tell them this tomorrow. They will make great parents, but this is probably not the ideal time to find out about this…"

After Hiruzen left the hospital with the unexpected news about Mina, Kagami Uchiha went in and he went straight to the second floor and to the table that had the paper with the list of names. It seemed like he already knew what he was doing, even before he went into the hospital. He sat there and he looked like he was going to regret what he was about to do. He thought:

"Old sage… why are you making me do this!? Why can't you just tell him and change things yourself?! I am starting to realize that you are not as holy as you seem, but if you are saying the truth, which I believe you are, then this has to be done… for The Leaf, and for the Human Realm too. I am sorry Pedro Namikaze and… I am sorry Mina."

Kagami checked that no one was seeing him and he took out a small knife from his green ninja vest. In a matter of seconds, he cut the bottom piece of the list with a perfect straight line that made it look like the paper had never been cut. He grabbed the small rectangular piece of paper that had Mina's name and three other names as well. Then, as he left the hospital, he threw it in the garbage.

"All that is left now is convincing Hiruzen. The best future must maintain its course at all costs…"

The next day, Hiruzen left his home at 3:30 a.m. He didn't go with the Hokage's vest because, in the very unlikely case that something else happened, he did not want to be recognized as the Hokage right away. And something did happen, right after he left Konoha through one of the alternative exits and through one of the few paths where he knew that none of the surveillance guards would see him. He was just 100 meters away from Konoha when he noticed that someone was following him…

As soon as Hiruzen perceived that there was someone else close to him, he grabbed his two explosive knives. It only took him a few seconds to spot the exact place where the other ninja was hiding. However, the spy revealed himself before he could get caught.

"Calm down Hiruzen; it's me, Kagami."

Hiruzen was not caught off guard, but he wasn't expecting this.

"What are you doing here?"

"I had an important vision and I received another message from the holy messenger of the Dark Realm.

I am here because I have to tell you that you can't tell Pedro or Mina that they are going to have a kid. If you do it, The Leaf's future will be affected in a very negative way. Apparently, that kid will be very important for us at some point, and some things that he will do for us will change if his father hears the news from you today.

For the sake of our clan, you must not tell them about it."

Hiruzen didn't take Kagami's words lightly:

"Do you understand what you are telling me? He will leave to a mission where he might die, and you don't want me to tell him that he is a father!? How would you feel if I did that to you?

You saw it too. You saw when I met him for the first time. The situation did not look good for him back then; and that has not happened yet, so it may happen now, after he leaves; or it may happen tomorrow. We don't know. Regardless, he deserves to know that Mina and he are going to be parents."

Kagami knew that he had to convince Hiruzen. There was no other choice.

"Hiruzen, you already know how my visions work. I feel the same way as you do. I believe they deserve to know it as well, but if this will be bad for our whole clan and for the future, then it is our duty to stop it. It is the Hokage's duty to put the clan's interests before his own. And it is my duty, as one of your Anbu ninjas, to help you with this burden. We must do what is best for everyone and for The Leaf."

Hiruzen didn't look like he was going to agree to it yet. He trusted Kagami, but there was something else that he didn't like:

"This mysterious holy sage… how do you know that we can trust him blindly?"

"All the things that he warned me about before have happened, just as he said and when he said they would happen. Even now, I came to you knowing that you would say that to them because he told me about it. The holy messenger told me that it was crucial that Pedro Namikaze did not know about it. Otherwise, his kid won't do something important for The Leaf and the future of our clan will be worse.

I trust this man Hiruzen. He has not given me all the answers, but I am sure that he has good reasons for that too. Every time, every single one, he was right about what he said. And I could see how right he was, after the events happened."

Hiruzen's happy thoughts about the "good news" he had for them were shaken and demolished. If The Leaf's future could be affected in a bad way, then he simply couldn't say it. He knew that very well. He also trusted his childhood friend Kagami Uchiha.

"Thank you Kagami. You can leave now. I assume that you already know what I am going to do now and why I didn't tell you and the others about it. Don't worry; I am not going to say it. You should go to sleep now. It looks like you need it more than I do."

Kagami felt very relieved. He left, right after Hiruzen's words of agreement—which Hagaromo had called "the clue to the fact that you were successful." Now, Kagami knew that things were going to happen as the holy sage intended; and he, as one of the "chosen carriers of the special sharingan," had helped to make it possible.

Hiruzen wasn't feeling happy about this departure anymore. After the talk with Kagami, he had a brief hunch that felt like this was a premonition of disaster, rather than an indication of a better future. However, he had no other choice than continuing everything, just as it had been planned.

He kept walking until he met Pedro Namikaze at the expected location. Mina was not with him though. Pedro was standing there by himself carrying all his belongings…

The previous three days had been difficult for Pedro and Mina. She didn't want him to leave; and her attitude towards his departure got even worse, when he revealed that Hagaromo didn't answer his question about whether he was going to come back or not. This worried her immensely because if that holy old man could see the future, then he had to know the answer to it already. And not saying it could mean that it wasn't a good answer.

Just to complicate things even more, she also noticed that something was wrong with her menstrual cycle. It was two days late already. Therefore, she went to The Leaf's hospital and took a blood test and a pregnancy test, just in case.

When the night of the third day came, she didn't want to know anything about the departure anymore. It had taken her many years to find someone like him. It had taken her her whole life to find real love; and now, all of it could vanish, just because some "holy" old geezer decided that it was best if things happened that way. She had not met the holy sage in person, but she understood that this sage was thinking more about his "great plan" than about what was best for her, or even for Pedro Namikaze. She told Pedro about it, but his opinion about Hagaromo was much different than hers. He truly believed in Hagaromo—just like Kagami did. He didn't think that the legendary holy hero would ever do something that could affect other innocent people in a negative way. Someone who had dedicated themselves to achieving peace, justice, and prosperity at their realm was not the kind of person that would do such things. This was what Pedro Namikaze believed…

Ultimately, Mina told him that she was not going to his departure. She wasn't going to agree with something that could guarantee that she would not see him again. He tried to convince her, but she didn't accept it. She couldn't accept that, in just a few hours, all of this could be over. He was left quite disappointed. He definitely didn't want to leave things with Mina this way. Nonetheless, this was another necessary trip for him and he was well-aware of that too. If he didn't do this, the future at their world was going to be much darker, even if they were together.

Before he left that morning, he hugged her for two long minutes and he told her how important she was for him. He also mentioned that he would wait for her until 4:30 a.m. in case she changed her mind. He left to meet Hiruzen, but, truth be told, he also felt sad like her. He knew that the possibility of not coming back existed. Regardless, he chose to believe that it would not happen that way. (As mentioned before, he truly believed in Hagaromo's plan.)

Pedro arrived at the location for his departure, which was close to the place where the old Hiruzen trained him. The Hokage had been delayed by Kagami, so Pedro had to wait for him a little more than expected…

Meanwhile, Mina put on her ninja vest and grabbed her teleportation daggers. She was going to see Pedro, but, before that, she decided to do something that awakened some fear in her: she would check the hospital's results for her pregnancy test. Under different circumstances, that would have been a source of happiness. Unfortunately, now it was a source of anxiety because he was leaving.

With the help of her daggers, she arrived at Konoha in just six minutes, even though her house was five miles away. Those daggers and her personal technique really made a difference…

She went into the hospital and saw the list of names at the same moment when Hiruzen and Pedro were in the middle of their talk—at the planned location for the departure. Her name was not in the list. Therefore, she didn't think that she was going to have a son—which was what happened eight months later. When she left, she walked past the garbage can that had the piece of paper with her name on it. She also changed her mind. She decided that she was going to say good bye to him. She would see him one more time during his departure…

Hiruzen's initial reaction when he saw Pedro was an obvious one:

"Where is she?"

Pedro had had better days for sure. He didn't look happy about leaving in just a few minutes, but he was ready for it and he knew how important it was.

"She decided that she wasn't going to come."

As he finished saying that, he looked serious and a little sad.

However, soon after that, his face changed for a moment and he showed a minor smile. He remembered his first departure from The Leaf of the future.

"It looks like it will be just you and me again, my good old friend. It will be just like the first time when I left, but without your Anbu squad."

The memories cheered him up momentarily. However, he also had a very important message for Hiruzen:

"Before I go, I need to remind you of certain things that you must do for me in the future:

When a man of last name Barton comes to ask for permission to build his village, not too far from here, and to join The Leaf, please accept it. That man's son and their village will make an important difference in my life.

Also, when you save me in the future, don't tell me anything about what happened in the past. Never tell me anything that may change what has happened here, and what will happen in the future.

I already told you all the details during our long talk weeks ago, at the cell; but, remember that it was you who taught me some of the best techniques I know. Don't forget about the shadow clones, the replacement technique, the wind barrier, or the summoning technique. Also, don't forget to make me fight against Jiraiya in the future tests that you will give me, before you send me to the Earth Realm. I will be able to figure out the rest on my own."

This was the second time that Hiruzen heard that, but it still surprised him.

"Are you sure that Jiraiya is going to be such a great ninja? Out of my current three students, he is the one that worries me the most. He doesn't seem to have any special talents or abilities. However, no one managed to find him back then, and he still hasn't returned, just as you predicted."

"Don't worry Hiruzen. He is training with the toads and the frogs at this very moment. When he comes back, he won't be the same Jiraiya anymore; and he will be able to summon a frog too. You will see."

Pedro seemed quite sure about it—he heard about it from Jiraiya himself.

Hiruzen was skeptic though.

"I sure hope so. He better have learned something useful from that other realm, after leaving us in the dark for so long. Most importantly, he better come back in one piece! And you better come back in one piece too!"

As Hiruzen finished saying that, he remembered that Pedro's expression—the first time he saw him when he was a boy—was that of someone who had just seen something terrible, but who also knew that he had a solution for it. Hiruzen didn't know what it meant, but he decided to keep it to himself.

Pedro left his most important task for Hiruzen for last. It was a request that had a special meaning for him:

"Yes, I plan to come back; but if that doesn't happen, then there is one final favor that I will ask of you. This is more important to me than any other favor Hiruzen: take care of Mina. And, if she ever has sons or daughters, take care of them too. Take care of them as if they were your own family. Can you do that for me? Can you promise me that you will do it if I don't return?"

Hiruzen started to have a feeling of sudden guilt, but he didn't let his body language betray him. At the same time, he started to feel some degree of sadness because it really felt like this final request was close to being a reality already, rather than a far-away possibility.

"Of course I will do it. I promise you that I will. I hope that you come back, but if you don't, I will make sure that both Mina and any family she has remain safe. As Hokage and as your friend, it is the least I can do. I will never forget anyone who has been willing to make great sacrifices for The Leaf."

Pedro felt relieved after hearing Hiruzen's words. Hiruzen, however, started to feel the need to tell him the truth; but he didn't say it. He simply couldn't put one good friend above the entire clan. The Leaf was more important and Hiruzen was willing to make sacrifices for it too—just like the holy sage was willing to do it for the whole Human Realm.

Pedro extended his hand and the Third Hokage extended his. Their handshake of friendship was solid, like the foundations of buildings that last for hundreds of years. This time, it was Pedro who gave his most sincere "thank you" to the Hokage (last time, it was the old Hiruzen who did this).

"Thank you for everything you have done Hiruzen and thank you for what you will do for me in the future. The Leaf will never have a better Hokage than you my friend. Now, it's time for me to go to my destination."

Pedro walked a few meters away from Hiruzen, and he began the process of gathering chakra to become an earth sage, before he made the jump to the desert in Hagaromo's time.

Ironically, the future was going to be much different than what both of them expected…

Hiruzen was admirable and a great Hokage, without a doubt. He was what all leaders and kings should have been. He was a guide and a protector that cared about the people's happiness and their wellbeing. He didn't see himself or his position as that of a "ruler" or a "boss." However, even Hiruzen wasn't going to be The Leaf's greatest Hokage. The Hokage that led The Leaf and the entire Human Realm to a time of true peace and prosperity came much later. He made the greatest sacrifices and the most heroic deeds when he was thinking about others. This man was Naruto—the grandson of Pedro Namikaze and Mina; and also, the son of the Fourth Hokage.

Unfortunately, Pedro's belief about Hiruzen as "the best possible Hokage" wasn't the only belief that was wrong. Hiruzen couldn't keep his meaningful promise to him either. The Fourth and his wife, Kushina, died the day when they saved The Leaf from the Nine-Tails fox and its Uchiha master. Hiruzen couldn't do anything to save Minato. At the end, the Fourth was the one who saved them all, and that was what made him a hero at The Leaf. In addition, Hiruzen couldn't protect Mina either. She and many of the surveillance ninjas were killed, several years later, during a big battle with a powerful enemy (who this enemy was will be revealed later in this story)…

Pedro Namikaze looked at the time, right after the brown "earth sage" marks started to appear around his eyelids. There were ten minutes left to reach 4:30 a.m. still, so he decided to stay there. He waited for Mina, just as he told her that he would. At 4:30, she still wasn't there. He saw himself wanting to wait a little longer for her, even though it was time to go already.

Then, he saw a flash of yellow light that was approaching them, skipping several sections of trees at a time. As it got closer, it was evident that it was her. It looked like a "yellow flash" because of her blonde hair.

She landed there, right in front of him, and an aura of happiness woke up in him. He was very glad to see she had changed her mind. He wanted her to be the last person that he would see before leaving; and clearly, his wish had been granted.

They walked a few steps towards each other. Then, they gave each other a close and caring hug. They closed their eyes when he put the right side of his face together with the right side of hers. They also shared a short-lived kiss. It had no passion in it, but it was full of love. It demonstrated that both cared about each other in general, not just for joyful moments; and their bond was the bond of two best friends that had twin souls for love.

While Hiruzen watched them during that minute—which seemed like hours for him—he felt a great deal of guilt again. He thought about telling them that they were going to be parents soon. However, he couldn't risk having a darker future for The Leaf, just to make two close friends happier at that moment…

Pedro said his first words to Mina since she arrived there:

"I am so glad to see you here. Now the trip will be much better."

"I couldn't let you leave without giving you something that I want you to keep."

She gave him one of her teleportation daggers.

"This is much better than the knives you have. Besides, you will remember me every time you see it. And you can also use it to teleport to my location at the same instant when you come back. You just need to use the normal replacement jutsu that you know and put your thumb on the number one of my seal, on the back of the dagger. You won't need to know my unique seal because my daggers already have it engraved on them. I always have the one marked as dagger number one with me, so you will come to me as soon as you do that. Please take care of yourself Pedro. I want you back."

He held her dagger as if it was a precious treasure with tons of emotional value. Then, he placed it at the only part of the ninja belt he had where it wasn't going to fall, because it had a small tight tie around it. Therefore, Mina's dagger was going to stay with him, no matter what.

He walked a few feet away from Mina, then he turned around again. He was ready to do Hagaromo's special seal for the teleportation, but first, he had to talk to his best friend—Mina—one more time.

"As soon as I am done helping him to save our realm, I will come back and you will be the first person that I will see."

His eyes were getting a little watery because of what he wanted to tell her next.

"Mina, regardless of what happens, I want you to know that you have been my greatest love. I will thank him for sending me here because I met you. I also want you to know that I always liked your name and how it sounds. If you have a daughter, I would like you to name her like you."

Mina's eyes also began to get watery.

"Do you want to have a daughter? Because I am going to need you for that. We can name her like me together."

Pedro and Mina were feeling sad and happy, at the same time.

"With my true love, I would love to have both, a girl and a boy."

She let go of a small smile, in between two tears.

"You can't name the boy like me, you know; it wouldn't sound right!"

"Yes, but we can name him similar. Something like Minato would sound great for a boy too. And it still has Mina in there."

Both of them managed to smile with their occurrences, even though they were in the border of tears…

Hiruzen never thought that his conscience was going to take such a severe beating that day, just from seeing their short final conversation. More than once, the idea of telling them that they were going to have a kid for real became very strong. He didn't fall for it, but his loyalty to The Leaf and his capacity to be a firm leader were seriously tested during that dark morning.

Finally, Pedro Namikaze began to make Hagaromo's special seal and he said his final words to them.

"Take good care of yourself Mina. I will be back as soon as I can.

Hiruzen, take care of The Leaf and remember your promise. I count on you my old friend."

Using the seal and looking through it with the normal sharingan, he adjusted the second location to the desert at their continent. Then, he changed the sharingan to its mangekyou form. It began to change the look of the second location to the way it was dozens of years before the young Leaf. Eventually, he reached a point that he—and his sharingan's vision—perceived as the right one. There, he stopped it and he finished it:

"Summoning jutsu!"

The teleportation took place and he quickly disappeared, leaving nothing but wind and dust behind. He was in sage mode already, before he completed the teleportation summoning.

Mina was sad but relieved at the same time. She was glad that she had come to see his departure. She would have regretted not going, if she had not been there that morning.

Hiruzen didn't feel very good after hiding what he knew from them.

She thanked him before she left:

"Thank you for being here Hiruzen. Thank you for all the things you did to help him too, since the day when you brought us back, after saving us from the ninjas of the Clan of the Stone."

"There is no need to thank me Mina. I am glad that I have been able to help both of you."

After that, Mina left using her daggers at high speed—just like she did when she arrived. She couldn't have known that this was the last time that she was going to see Pedro Namikaze.

Likewise, Hiruzen could not have guessed that the worst part of that day had not arrived for him yet. He was going to find out about something terrible during his return to Konoha…

After Kagami talked to Hiruzen, Kagami noticed some fresh footprints—even in the darkness of the morning, he still noticed them—that weren't his or Hiruzen's. He followed the trail to find out who was doing something in secret, outside of Konoha, hiding from their surveillance squads, and at that time in the morning. It had to be someone from their clan for sure. It had to be someone who knew where their surveillance ninjas were positioned too.

What Kagami found was nothing short of terrifying and the battle that awaited him was on the same scale as what he saw...

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Kagami's End


	43. Chapter 43: Kagami's End

**CHAPTER 43: Kagami's End**

Kagami noticed the different footprints shortly after he finished talking with Hiruzen. He was on his way to Konoha and the Sun was about to show its face; so the morning wasn't too dark anymore. He recognized that the footprints on the ground were new and fresh. Whoever left them there had done it just a couple of hours ago. Apparently, Hiruzen and he were not the only ones that had some secret business to deal with, close to Konoha.

Kagami was a pretty skilled ninja. He noticed the footprints even though they were not that visible. Most average ninjas would have missed them, but he didn't. It worried him that someone was bypassing their security, so he decided to follow the entire trail, which would surely lead him to the one who had done it. Besides, someone who was smart enough to bypass their security was not a novice ninja, so it was better if an elite like him took care of it.

Along the way, he noticed that the trail of footprints started to disappear. Whoever did it had probably noticed about it, so they began to erase their own trail. Kagami already had a good idea of where it was headed, so he continued on the right path, even after the footprints were gone. He was also very careful about hiding himself, since he didn't know who or what was waiting for him.

Eventually, he saw a white snake and he realized that the snake was following the same trail as he. The snake was also erasing every footprint that it was finding! That surprised Kagami. It was clear that the snake was backing up someone, and that wasn't all…

This was the same white snake that Kagami had seen in Pedro Namikaze's memories. It was the mysterious snake that always accompanied the powerful ninja that defeated them all. It was almost like a pet to this unknown man who had even killed Hiruzen and allowed the destruction of The Leaf.

Kagami's concern about the situation skyrocketed immediately. As soon as he recognized that the white snake was the same one from Pedro's memories, it worried him that the one he was going to find was the man of the dark cloak. However, Kagami was pretty confident about his skills as an Uchiha elite and a master of the fire-style. He also knew that he would lose track of the snake and the other person if he didn't continue following it. Ultimately, he didn't look for any other support and he decided that he was going to deal with whatever he found on his own. Help in combat was not something that an Uchiha elite like him would need—he thought that. His mangekyou sharingan and his skills would be his backup…

After thirty minutes of following the snake while it covered every footprint, Kagami saw (from the tree where he was standing) that there was someone else waiting at that place. The one waiting there was Hiruzen's top student, the pale boy, Orochimaru.

Kagami noticed that the footprints matched Orochimaru's ninja sandals almost perfectly. He also saw that not everything about the white snake was exactly the same as before. Now, it had a strange violet-looking color on the skin around its eyes. Other than that, it was the same snake from the visions for sure. Kagami stayed there and watched what happened.

The snake climbed on Orochimaru's right leg and moved all the way up to the kid's shoulder. Then, it whispered something to him on his ear:

"You have to be more careful. I had to cover your trail again. You are going to get caught if you keep forgetting something so simple.

Are you ready to do this training again?"

The kid responded, pretty sure about himself:

"Yes, it is time to start."

Then, Orochimaru extended his right arm—in the same way as the man of the cloak had done it in Pedro's visions. The white snake encircled the kid's arm and a white light engulfed it. The light went away quickly and what was left in Orochimaru's hand was the Sword of Kusanagi. Kagami remembered that this was the same sword that the man of the cloak had used before.

Next, Orochimaru placed the sword on the ground and he used a technique:

"Summoning jutsu!"

Dozens of normal snakes appeared around him. After that, the kid grabbed the sword and he began to fight the snakes. He didn't just use the sword either. He also used various techniques from the different elemental styles. Surprisingly, his elemental attacks were more powerful than the sword itself. They were already at the level that adult users of those styles had. The kid was surprisingly advanced and powerful for his age. He defeated the dozens of snakes he summoned on his own. He seemed a little tired, but it had been an impressive display of his skills nonetheless. His jutsus were quite powerful already.

The snankes—between 35 and 45 of them—lied lifeless on the ground after the training. This was not the first time that he had done that either…

Kagami only had one path of thought in his mind after what he saw there:

"Orochimaru is the man of the black cloak from the visions. This kid, the gifted kid who can master and use all the styles, is the menace from the future! If he is like this now, he will become so powerful that none of us will be able to defeat him in the future! He must be stopped now. His future self will only bring death and destruction to The Leaf and to our whole realm!"

Kagami unsheathed the two small katanas that he was carrying on his back—they were just a little longer than two feet each, but pretty strong as well. He had promised himself that he was going to take care of that guy if he found him; and now he knew his identity. However, he knew that the Third Hokage—Hiruzen—was never going to accept his way of dealing with it. He could be charged and judged for assassination of a fellow ninja from his clan. Considering that it was a kid, it could be far worse than that—they could decide to execute him right away. Besides, Hiruzen was never going to believe that his "gifted student," the one that he saw as his favorite, was their greatest enemy and the biggest threat for The Leaf's future.

At the end of the day, Kagami wasn't evil like Danzo, but he certainly wasn't as good as Hiruzen either. He was ready to kill anyone if it was necessary to protect The Leaf or the Hokage; and he was pretty well trained to do it. After what he had seen, Kagami decided that he was going to put an end to "the menace" on his own; and he would make it look as an ambush from some foreign ninja clan, after he was done.

At that very moment, the sword (which was really the snake) talked to Orochimaru to warn him:

"Stay still and get ready. There is a rat nearby. It will strike you at any moment."

Kagami jumped from the tree and landed close to Orochimaru. As soon as he landed, he aimed two spinning attacks at Orochimaru, using his two small katanas together.

The kid dodged them because he was expecting them already, but the third one caught him by surprise. He didn't think that Kagami would link the other two attacks with a third one so quickly. It was too fast, so Orochimaru didn't react fast enough. However, the sword moved on its own and blocked the third attack's path, before it landed on the kid. Orochimaru never stopped holding the sword; so, from Kagami's point of view, it looked like the kid had done that super-fast counterattack, but, in reality, it was the snake who did it. Orochimaru's hands moved with it, just because he never let go of the sword. The real attack wasn't his though.

The counterattack's power surprised Kagami. The kid was great at jutsus, but he looked thin and pale. Orochimaru didn't look like a threat—at first—and he definitely didn't look strong at all. Kagami was much stronger, yet he could feel great force as soon as that sword clashed with his katanas. He didn't know that the great force was not coming from Orochimaru. Regardless, nothing scared Kagami. He saw this as another "secret" S-rank mission for The Leaf; and he was going to be victorious, just like he had been before. He never doubted his skills, no matter how great the threat was.

Kagami's blades clashed with the Sword of Kusanagi again. This time he also surprised the kid with a mighty kick. And right after that, Kagami's sudden slash with his left katana took away the sword from Orochimaru's hands. In just a couple of seconds, Kagami kicked the snake sword away from them, and while it was still in the air, he set it on fire:

"Fire-shot jutsu!"

The small ball of fire burst into a large flame as soon as it hit the sword.

Kagami did not see the snake as the major threat, so he believed that he had taken care of it with that.

Orochimaru finally started to fight him seriously though. Orochimaru saw the white snake as family and as his best friend. Knowing that the elite ninja from The Leaf could have killed it made him fight at his full power. When Kagami finished dealing with the sword and directed another slash towards the "snake kid," Orochimaru used the most powerful wind-sphere shield seen in this story so far. Then, he aimed and propelled the wild winds against Kagami. The brutal winds lifted Kagami from the ground in an instant and pushed him back for 300 meters, making him hit everything on the path, until he finally managed to grab and hold one of the trees. All of that happened in just six seconds. Kagami also lost one of his katanas along the way. Although, he didn't get any severe injury, Kagami certainly took a crazy beating from that attack.

When he went back on his feet, he saw that Orochimaru was walking towards him. The kid wasn't afraid of him, but he obviously didn't know what Kagami was capable of. Kagami had not been chosen as one of Hiruzen's guards just because he was his friend…

Kagami lifted the only katana that he had and used a fire technique on it. A red flame, which looked more dangerous than normal fire, covered the top three-fourths of the blable. Then, Kagami lifted the sword and its deadly flame. (This made Kenn's fire blades from the beginning of this story look like child's play. Kagami's techniques were vastly superior.)

"Infernal ring jutsu!"

Kagami traced a circle on the air, all around himself, with the tip of the katana; and the red flame from the blade appeared on the circle as well. As he walked towards Orochimaru, the infernal circle followed behind him.

"Master of the snakes, I am going to finish you here! You are going to be the doom of The Leaf in the future, but I will make sure that it won't happen. Come at me with everything you've got, or else our battle will be over now!"

Kagami started to move very quickly—almost running—towards Orochimaru and with every fire slash that he directed at the kid, a sword of red fire came out of the ring and was shot in that direction at full speed.

Orochimaru stopped moving forward and he had to move back and dodge very fast to avoid getting hit by the fire swords, which looked like red arrows. Kagami was approaching him very fast. He had to act quickly against the Uchiha elite or else it was over!

"Lightning arrow jutsu!"

Orochimaru began to shot several lighting arrows at Kagami, but all of them were dodged. He became more worried about Kagami every second that went by, so he tried to stop him with something that would hit him for sure.

"Water-style crusher!"

A giant cylindrical shape of fast-moving waters rose around an area that surrounded Kagami. Right away, the cylinder of wild waters began to close in around Kagami. Its diameter decreased very fast, but its humongous size didn't. Nonetheless, the Uchiha elite didn't look worried at all. He kept going towards the walls of crazy waters that approached him.

"If he thinks that he can stop a master of the fire-style with this, he still has a lot to learn about advanced fire techniques!

Infernal sphere jutsu!"

The red circle of fire that was behind Kagami began to extend itself around him, forming a red sphere that looked like a powerful shield. He ran through all the water while the shield protected him. At the end, his shield took a serious beating, but it wasn't destroyed and not a single bucket of water touched him.

The pale kid looked fearful for the first time, after he saw that his grand water-based technique didn't do anything. He had to stop the Uchiha at all costs, or else he was dead for real. Kagami was just 35 meters away, when Orochimaru started to feel desperate—he wasn't even putting a single step forward anymore. Thus, the kid did the first thing that he could think about:

"Grand earth barrier jutsu!"

Several large walls of earth rose up from the ground in front of Orochimaru. Then, Orochimaru began to run fast in the opposite direction. He was feeling depleted of energy already. He had a serious battle for training right before this, and he had used too much chakra during his last jutsus. He was a 10-year-old kid, after all. He definitely wasn't ready for a long battle at this intensity; although, he certainly was better than most ninjas at that age.

Orochimaru saw how Kagami destroyed one of the large earth walls using his red sphere of fire and the initial red ring as a weapon. Both were gone after that, but the way the sphere destroyed that wall, as if it was some kind of laser, was quite impressive.

Orochimaru clearly wasn't as brave as before anymore.

"You madman, why are you doing this!? Why do you want to kill me?! I am no menace! The Leaf is my home; I would never do anything bad against it!"

Orochimaru screamed that from the top of his lungs and he seemed sincere, but Kagami didn't believe him.

"Enough lies snake kid! You are in range now; see you in hell!"

From the top of the destroyed earth wall, which formed a small hill, Kagami unleashed one of the most powerful fire techniques of the Uchihas:

"Katon fire-style! Infernal blaze!"

Orochimaru knew that he couldn't outrun it, so he turned around, faced Kagami, and used the same technique at full power.

"Fire-style infernal blaze jutsu!"

The two intense blazes clashed and began to push each other. At first, Orochimaru's blaze was gaining an advantage, but when Kagami noticed it, his blaze started to push with more force. There was no way that he was going to let a non-Uchiha challenge him with that technique!

To gain power, Kagami's eyes changed to the sharingan and his sharingans turned into their mangekyou form. This helped him to make his fire attacks even more intense. There was no doubt that Kagami's grand blaze was going to crush Orochimaru right there, but something else happened.

"Rock barrier jutsu!

Rock prison jutsu!"

The white snake came back. It summoned a wall of rocks that stopped Kagami's infernal blaze. And it followed it with five humongous ovals of rocks that rose up from the ground, on an area that surrounded Kagami's location—just like Orochimaru's water technique did before. The ovals and the way they were aligned resembled the petals of a flower.

Then, the giant rock petals began to close on the area that they had surrounded. They fused together and left anything within that place trapped.

The snake talked to Orochimaru:

"You are not ready to defeat him yet. Take this opportunity and escape. I will delay him further; then, I will flee from here as well. We will meet again at our cave. I will wait for you there. Go to see me there in two days from now."

Orochimaru felt concerned about his friend:

"But, he is powerful! Can you do this alone?"

The snake looked confident.

"Yes, I can. Just run away from here already! He will be back soon."

Orochimaru knew that he couldn't use his techniques much longer. He was going to get in the way then. Therefore, he began to run away from there.

As soon as the snake noticed that the kid was getting away, it smiled and the look on its face changed from friendly to evil.

"Who said that I am going to fight him alone? That wouldn't be fun, would it? I will give him a well-deserved welcome."

The snake created a large complex seal and it used a technique with it:

"Grand summoning jutsu!"

Dozens and dozens of snakes appeared beside their former king's body.

(The white snake was the previous king of the Realm of the Snakes, before the current king took away its power and its throne. At this moment, however, the one doing this was the current Snake King, not the true white snake. This was the reason why the violet color had appeared around the snake's eyes. The new Snake King was in control of the white snake now.)

Kagami noticed what was happening and he managed to escape the rock petals at the last second, before they could trap him within them. He took a serious hit from some falling rocks, while he escaped, so he couldn't go after Orochimaru right away.

When Kagami was back, he saw the white snake and its small army waiting for him. He also saw that Orochimaru was getting away. He tried to use his mangekyou sharingan to put him to sleep, but it was already too late. His sharingan didn't work at such a long distance.

Kagami looked like a mess, but he was still ready to fight.

"You and your buddies are back I see… I will have to finish you first then. I won't let him escape!"

All the other snakes—around seventy of them—began to surround Kagami. Then, the white snake talked:

"The kid is the last of your worries now. Your only concern should be getting out of here alive, if you can.

Show us what you are made of!

Kill him!"

The snakes had surrounded Kagami already. As soon as they heard the order, every single one jumped straight at Kagami with their mouths open. It looked like this was going to be Kagami's end, but it wasn't.

"Fire-style tornado shield jutsu!"

Hundreds of small flames began to form a sphere around Kagami. They started to circle him at such high speeds that it really looked like a twister of fire had surrounded him. It was a perfect blend of the wind-shield jutsu and the fire-sphere barrier.

The battalion of snakes jumped at him at full speed. They all got burned pretty badly and were pushed back, as if they had hit a serious tornado for real. None of them could reach Kagami. And they fell from the sky, all over the place, like fried spaghetti, after they crashed with Kagami's fire twister.

There were many of them that could move after the fatal burns. Those went after Kagami as soon as his fire twister stopped, but his other katana still had the red flame on it.

He cut through them with such speed and skill that he made the kid's training with the snake sword look like amateur stuff.

Meanwhile, the white snake was doing what it did best: watching and analyzing the situation to make sure that victory would be on its side. Even though the Snake King was controlling it, it still had some consciousness of its own and a very minor degree of control over its own actions.

"This guy… he has to be one of The Leaf's top elites. I may not be able to finish him off with this body. In that case…

Summoning jutsu! White Mitor!"

The huge white snake that Orochimaru had summoned before—the one that Hiruzen had to immobilize because he feared that it would eat Enma—appeared there. This snake's head was six feet long and four feet wide. Just the head by itself was bigger than Kagami; and the body was much longer.

"Mitor, eliminate the human intruder!

You can have him for lunch if you wish; although, I doubt that's going to keep you full…

Finish him!"

The big white snake looked strong, but it didn't seem that smart. Moreover, it didn't talk, but it understood what it had to do.

Kagami realized that the small white snake was a much bigger threat than what he assumed at first. It didn't look too powerful, but it could summon other snakes and it knew what it was doing pretty well. It could talk too, so it definitely was as smart as a human, at least.

"You are bringing backup. Why don't you fight me yourself!? Are you scared of me?!"

The white snake ignored Kagami's taunts and hid itself in the trees. It was going to watch, in order to strike at the right time, as it usually did.

The other one started to approach Kagami with the intent to attack right away. Kagami realized that stopping this huge one wasn't going to be easy or simple. He couldn't give it a chance to jump at him in an open space; it would catch him in no time! He ensured that he had trees on all sides, to make sure that the big snake would have to go around them or break them, before it could get him.

How was he going to stop it though?

This was starting to look more like a true S-rank mission now. (Suitable for master ninjas only) 

Kagami had to keep it back with a series of fire arrows and with the help of the fireball jutsu. It seemed too dangerous to engage it in close sword-combat face-to-face. However, he noticed that the big snake had a much harder time following him when he wasn't on the ground. Therefore, he began to take it to the taller trees nearby; and, once he got there, he began to jump higher and higher on the branches of the huge trees.

The snake was really large, but the trees were even bigger, so it had to climb up too. And soon, it was having a hard time with climbing. Its size and weight were a major disadvantage for that. Kagami used this situation to start landing some attacks on it. He believed that the only way he had to win was attacking the head and trying his best to blind the serpent.

Finally, a golden opportunity presented itself…

The Mitor saw an open path to jump and get Kagami with its mouth. Kagami was ten meters above its head on the tree in front of it, and there were no other trees in the way. The big snake gave a sudden jump and opened its mouth to catch its prey right above. However, it didn't think much about what it was doing. The one on higher ground had the advantage here. (Remember this snake was huge, but really dense when it came to strategy. It just acted by instinct. It definitely had nothing in common with the previous Snake King, other than its white skin. And it certainly didn't think like a ninja either.)

The White Mitor looked frightening, but it was 100% open to getting hit by anything; and it didn't give itself any chance to avoid it, just like the large battalion of smaller snakes before it. It only attacked, but it forgot about defending or dodging completely.

At that moment, Kagami attacked it with another fireball jutsu that hit it right on the eyes. Immediately, it closed its mouth and began to fall down with its eyes closed too. It wasn't looking at Kagami anymore. That was the moment when Kagami recognized his chance to take the beast down. Then, he took the risk:

Kagami jumped from his tree all the way down to the snake's head. He landed on the center of the head with his fire katana ignited, giving the snake a serious mortal wound on its head. The katana impaled the head and its entire blade went into it. Kagami jumped out of the way and left his katana behind, before the snake's grand crash with the ground.

The Mitor began to hit trees moving like crazy—with Kagami's katana stuck on its head—after it landed on the ground. It didn't see anything either because its eyes had been hit directly by the fireball.

Shortly after that, it stopped moving and it stayed there, motionless on the ground.

Kagami had jumped out of there since the beginning, to avoid the serpent's final madness (which resembled the way roaches look when they get hit by Raid). Then, Kagami came back. He jumped on the head and pulled out his katana. He had also picked up the other katana that he had lost during the battle with Orochimaru (he saw it nearby).

The Snake King was beginning to feel a burning indignation. He wanted Kagami dead!

However, fighting him in the body of his "weakest" guardian—the white snake that had been the king before—was not a good idea, especially after seeing what this guy could do.

It was time to call one of the most fearsome animals from the Realm of the Snakes. Even the other snakes were scared of it...

However, the Snake King got the surprise of a lifetime before the new summoning. Kagami almost killed him before that!

Kagami put his two small katanas on their original sheaths, on his back. Then, he turned around and did it:

"Fire-style burning-arrow!"

He shot an arrow of fire at the exact spot where the white snake had been hiding. Somehow, he had managed to spot where it was, during the frantic battle with the other snake. This was what it meant to be a true S-rank ninja!

The Snake King—in his guardian's body—was caught by surprise. He jumped, but part of the arrow still caught him and burned his tail (the end of the white snake's body).

This was utterly unacceptable!

No one had been able to do that to him ever; so now, the battle with Kagami became a personal matter.

"Summoning jutsu! Mighty Manda!"

The small white menace summoned one of the ten largest snakes from the world of the snakes. It was also one of the six most powerful snakes at their realm.

(The most powerful being at that realm was the current Snake King, who we are going to meet in just a few chapters… you'll see…)

The new summoned beast was something else altogether…

Kagami felt as if something had changed on the land. The whole ground looked violet and it felt different. It was as if he had been teleported to a different place, but he knew that he was still there.

Then, a large portion of the ground ahead of him began to move, and it turned around.

It was the head of a gigantic violet snake!

This one was ten times bigger than the other!

(And we thought that the other one was already huge. Jesus…)

Its head was the size of a house.

Everything felt tiny compared to this monster.

Obviously, the two small katanas were not going to do much against this one…

"Manda! Crush that human in front of you! Squash the insect!" yelled the white snake, from a safe place.

The giant snake looked at Kagami and then it looked back at the tiny white snake:

"Is that the insect that you want me to crush? Why don't you crush it yourself? It looks pathetic."

The white snake was on the border of exploding from anger.

"You idiot! Take a better look at my eyes! Your king is the one that is talking to you now. Follow my orders and eliminate him. Otherwise, I will kill you when you return!"

Kagami was surprised for a second. Was that little white snake really a king that could give orders to the huge ones!? It didn't make much sense, unless it really was far more powerful than what it looked like. However, he barely had time to think, since Manda had appeared right below them. (Kagami was standing on the giant snake's body.)

When Manda fixed its eyes on him, Kagami attacked, before it could catch him.

"Infernal blaze jutsu!"

Kagami kept the mighty blaze going for half a minute aimed at Manda's face. However, he had to stop because he was starting to feel fatigued from the battles. Soon, he wasn't going to be able to use any other jutsus, if he wanted to conserve the chakra that he had left to fight.

When the flame was gone, the giant snake was still looking at him. The infernal blaze barely did anything to it!

Kagami used the mangekyou sharingan, but unfortunately, it didn't have any effect. Putting a colossal snake to sleep wasn't the same business as putting a 5'8" human to sleep…

Next, he unsheathed the katanas and slashed the place where he was standing, but it didn't have any effect either—not even a scratch. This snake wasn't just far bigger; its skin was much tougher too. If fire and his weapons didn't work, what was he going to do? How could he win against this!?

Obviously, staying there or remaining stationary against this beast was a guaranteed death, so Kagami tried to escape from the snake's huge body as soon as possible. He created three shadow clones and made Manda think that one of the clones was the original, to give himself enough time to escape to the forest.

It worked, but Manda never lost sight of him. The giant snake only had to move a little and it was already at Kagami's location. It was too large, too fast, smarter than the other one (it talked), and apparently, it had the eyesight of an eagle too. There was no way to escape this animal; and defeating it was definitely out of the question—at least for Kagami.

However, that was the nature of battles and challenges in most S-rank missions. You couldn't expect opponents that were not better than you and your life was often at the edge. (Pedro Namikaze's trip to the Earth Realm was considered an S-rank mission too.) Thus, the key to victory was not having the highest strength or power; it was having the ingenuity to come up with better tactics than the opposing forces, in the middle of a battle where life itself was on the balance.

Kagami had one of those ingenious ideas when the great snake finally caught him. It almost asphyxiated him just from holding him for a few seconds. The giant Manda wanted to swallow him though, so it made the mistake of throwing him very high in the air after that, without checking if he had done anything suspicious before.

Kagami was lucky because he had learned about rare advanced techniques from the Second Hokage—just like Hiruzen and Mina did. Many of these techniques didn't have anything to do with attacking, but they were serious "table turners" in any battle. Mina's teleportation with seals and objects, Pedro Namikaze's time jumps with the sharingan, and Naruto's shadow clones were in that special category. The technique that Kagami used was also a game changer for his situation:

"Seal-breaker jutsu! Dispel summoning seal!"

Manda jumped to swallow the tiny human while it came down in free fall. Then, the gigantic snake disappeared, all of a sudden, and right before it could eat Kagami.

(It had been called with the summoning technique, which used a summoning seal to make the animal appear at the different realm. The summoner could just dispel that seal and the animal would go back to their realm. He or she also placed that seal on them automatically with the summoning technique. However, the ingenious Second Hokage figured out how seals could be broken using other seals. Part of what helped him to figure it out was the content in the book "Ancient Summoning Craft" by some unknown ancient author. Kagami, as one of Second's top students, learned that technique too.)

A while back, Kagami drew the seal that could break other seals on the giant snake's skin, using fire. Manda didn't even feel it. Then, Kagami used the jutsu that would activate it for the summoning seal—which was the one that made it possible for the snake to remain in the human world. Therefore, the summoning ended, right after Kagami broke that seal from Manda.

Unfortunately, Kagami was left in a situation where it was too difficult to defend because he was falling down, in free fall.

He could see how the small white snake was waiting for him below, on the ground. What was the little villain up to? Either way, Kagami had to break his fall somehow, or else it would kill him, even if the snake didn't do anything. Unfortunately, he wasn't Pedro Namikaze, so he couldn't use earth-based techniques to stop his fall; and the only wind-based technique that he could do was the fire tornado shield (which was half wind and half fire). Despite how skilled he was, he could only do fire-style jutsus (he wasn't one of the super rare ninjas that could use several styles). Thus, he had no other choice to survive. He only knew one way to have a chance at survival:

"Fire-style tornado shield!"

The Snake King smiled from below, as his deadly white guardian, and from the Realm of the Snakes, as the new powerful king that had conquered them.

When Kagami was approaching the top of the tall trees there, with the sphere of flames covering him, the white snake turned into its weaponized form, the Sword of Kusanagi—which was the Snake King's personal sword, even before he took over the world of the snakes.

Then, the sword aimed the tip of its blade at Kagami Uchiha's heart. The sword began to spin faster and faster and, all of a sudden, it rushed towards Kagami like a lighting arrow. It went through the shield of wind and fire and struck Kagami right below the heart. It missed its target just by one inch.

Kagami felt how the snake sword went through him, at the same moment when his shield crashed with the ground.

The shield wasn't enough to stop the whole impact from his grand free fall. The entire shield was shattered and Kagami broke his right hand and his right arm, trying to shield the rest of his body from the impact. The snake sword was still just one inch from his heart, after the impact was over.

Was this going to be Kagami's end?

It didn't look like he had any chance of survival at that point, but he wasn't dead yet…

Both Mina and Hiruzen heard the tremendous noises that the giant snake Manda made, before Kagami sent it back to its realm. The giant animal broke many trees and destroyed the place completely. It sounded like a devastating battle, or even a war, was taking place somewhere nearby. Both, Hiruzen and Mina, changed routes and they began to go towards the location of the clash. It was several miles away from them though. Inor Yamanaka—one of Hiruzen's Anbu ninjas and one of Kagami's teammates—and several surveillance ninjas also left their positions and rushed towards the source of the clash, as soon as they heard those bomb-like noises, which were a signal of disaster for sure.

At the location of the battles, the part of the Kusanagi Sword that was outside of Kagami's body turned into the white snake. It left the end of its body in sword form, close to Kagami's heart. Then, it encircled Kagami and talked to him:

"I never thought that you would make it pass Manda. Humans never cease to impress me. Maybe, that is why I desire to have this realm next."

Kagami was overwhelmed with pain everywhere, but the snake's last words struck him harder than any pain. He looked at the snake's eyes and his eyes revealed his mangekyou sharingan once again. He was going to put the cursed snake to sleep, then he would kill it. He was ready to die later, but not before he did that.

The white snake continued looking at him and it began to smile. The sharingan's power wasn't working on this one either.

"It looks like the special eyes of the Uchihas are not that great, if they can't even defeat a little white snake like me."

The Snake King mocked Kagami's special power. If he had been using a human body and human eyes, he would have understood how incredibly powerful the sharingan truly was.

(The sharingan techniques that required having direct eye contact with the enemy only worked if the enemy had human eyes too. These talking snakes had different eyes, so the sharingan didn't work on them.)

After mocking the special eye, the white snake grabbed Kagami's katanas and threw them far away. The Snake King felt victorious already. In his mind, the battle was over, he had won, and there was nothing else that Kagami could do against him anymore.

Kagami did not stop there though. Since the offensive technique didn't work, he tried using his mind reading technique, which didn't require looking at the eyes (nor having human eyes). Moreover, the enemy would not notice that he was seeing his secrets and his past memories. Maybe he could still find a way to defeat it among those memories…

Even in his fatal state, Kagami had not given up. He believed that he still had a chance to save The Leaf from this enemy…

What Kagami saw brought a terror to his mind that he had not experienced since he was a little defenseless kid, many years ago. Even his mighty sharingans trembled with what he saw (but what he saw wasn't revealed yet, we just saw his reaction).

Kagami understood that he had been wrong all along. The kid was not a threat. Orochimaru had just been a victim, like many others at the Human Realm and at the Realm of the Snakes. The one who became the Snake King was the real villain and the real menace. And there was little hope to defeat him, unless Kagami could tell the holy messenger and the others what he had discovered about their realm's true enemy.

In a desperate attempt to escape, Kagami burned the snake with a fire seal that he had on the hand that wasn't broken. When it let go of him, he grabbed the blade with his two feet and pulled it out of his body all the way. He screamed, but he never hesitated. As soon as he fell on the ground, he did it again:

"Seal-breaker jutsu! Cancel summon!"

He had marked the white snake with the breaker seal, when he burned it. He thought that Orochimaru had been the one who summoned this menace, without knowing the implications that it would have or the true intentions of its master, the Snake King.

Unfortunately, Kagami was wrong. The white snake didn't disappear because it wasn't a summon like Mitor, Manda, or the monkey king, Enma. This meant that it had come to the Human Realm on its own, without being summoned by anyone; or it was living here and the summoning seal had been removed from it a long time ago…

Kagami couldn't even walk with the mortal wound under his heart. He started to move as he could with his legs. However, he wasn't gaining much distance from the snake. He looked really worried, but if there was any hope of giving the information he found to someone else, he had to do it.

The Snake King already knew that Kagami couldn't beat him anymore, even though he was using the weakest of his three guardians (the other two were not on his side at this point, anyways, so he only had the white snake to back him up). He also knew what he was going to do with this brave and skilled ninja elite.

"I am sorry, but what you did won't work with me. I am not Orochimaru's summon, but someday, he will be mine. You could be my ally too. You are a great human warrior."

Kagami was at death's door, and he already knew that the true Snake King had the power to save him, but he was never going to help someone like him. He only regretted that it didn't seem like he was going to be able to do anything to stop this possible destroyer of the Human Realm. He thought that he was going to say his last words at that moment, to oppose the real Snake King:

"Ne-ver, I will ne-ver do any-thing for youu!"

"Unfortunately, that is not for you to decide. I am the one who will decide your destiny, if I let you live.

I have given it some thought. I know I may need other bodies before my ideal vessel is finally ready for me. Orochimaru will definitely surpass you, but, before that time comes, it would be more fun to roam my new realm as more than just a snake. That is, until I finally find a way to return in my true form.

I also want to see what these eyes of yours are good for. You seem to hold them at a very high standard, even though they didn't work to defeat me. What can they do? Where can they take me? I wonder…"

Kagami's last fears tripled when he heard that. If "he" had his special sharingans, then "he" would be able to go to the Dark Realm too. Kagami couldn't let this menace get to the holy sage. He couldn't let that happen no matter what! Hagaromo's plan was, most likely, the only way to defeat the Snake King, if he couldn't tell them what he saw about their real enemy.

The snake approached Kagami and he didn't know what to do. He even feared that it could kill him first, and take his special sharingan after that. It could not obtain the special sharingan, no matter what.

At the end, Kagami did the ultimate sacrifice:

He used one of his explosive knives right in front of his open eyes. He expected to die there, and he was certain that his sharingan eyes would be completely destroyed. However, only the later happened…

When Kagami made his move, the snake also used a strange unknown jutsu:

"Zeta-style possession jutsu!"

A bright white light engulfed them.

It was exactly like the light that Hagaromo and Pedro Namikaze saw in the vision of the possible future, when the snake-like Kagami used that technique on Naruto, the Hokage. Then, it was seen how the Seventh Hokage changed drastically and Kagami disappeared. It felt as if the Seventh—Naruto—was a different person after that…

Kagami regained consciousness, but he couldn't see anything. Was he dead?

He felt that he was standing on a soft kind of surface, which almost felt like flesh. Portions of that surface were holding his legs and his hands, so he couldn't move.

Someone else was there and his voice sounded like a man's voice:

"Welcome Uchiha warrior. Welcome to my mind's realm, the place where you and I will become one.

It is a shame that you destroyed your eyes when you tried to commit suicide.

Even though seeing this realm would have surely scared even someone like you, I would have liked to show you who I really am, before you join me."

Kagami could feel how the one talking was getting closer and closer to him, until two hands grabbed his arms. The hands felt very human and so did the voice:

"Get ready. Soon we will be one."

The fleshy surface began to rise until it covered Kagami everywhere. Soon, Kagami's consciousness drifted away.

(The main villain also has a "special realm" like the holy sage. This "Possession Realm" was shown only once in Naruto Shippuden. This story has answers for this and for many other plot holes from the original series. Filling all those gaps and bringing a really good and "standalone" sequel was the inspiration behind this story.)

When Kagami awakened again, he was back at the Human Realm and he had a violet skin-color around his eyes. That same violet color had disappeared from the eyes of the white snake.

"I don't know why you chose to take him, instead of finishing him, but I am glad I get to be myself again," said the white snake in a bad mood.

"What did you do with his special eyes?" asked the Snake King.

"I threw them out on that pond of blood of his. You are not seeing it, but he really destroyed the eyes and his face too. You will need new eyes and plastic surgery if you really want to be him."

The Snake King—as Kagami—used another strange technique on his face:

"Zeta-style healing jutsu."

His whole face went back to the way it was before, except for the eyes, which were not there. It looked like he used some sort of regeneration technique.

The white snake pointed out something useful:

"Sharingan eyes can be transplanted to a new owner or carrier. We just need to get you a new set of those from another Uchiha."

"Don't worry about that. Your main concern should be getting back to the kid now. Remember that you were supposed to escape without fighting me seriously. You must meet him again at the cave, just as you promised him. I am sure that he will seek you there."

It was clear that Kagami wasn't himself anymore. The Snake King was the one in charge now. And he looked creepy without anything in his eye sockets…

Suddenly, the white snake noticed that someone else was approaching really fast.

"It is time for me to go. You already know what you have to do."

Kagami created the summoning seal for the Realm of the Snakes and performed another technique that we had not seen before:

"Reverse summoning jutsu!"

He disappeared and the white snake escaped too.

When Mina got there, just a few seconds later, she perceived that someone had just left, but she didn't see anyone.

There was blood and plenty of destruction at that place.

Many trees had been smashed or squashed, as if some sort of monster or tornado had landed on that area of the forest. It was a serious disaster.

It didn't look like this had been done by a person; although, she had heard the legends about the battles between the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha, and according to those tales, they were this devastating… Those two were not alive now though…

Shortly after that, Hiruzen, Inor, and the others arrived. It was Inor who saw the destroyed eyes first. And Hiruzen was the first one who recognized that one of them had striking similarities with Kagami's eyes. Later that day, it was revealed through medical tests that those were Kagami's sharingans indeed…

This mysterious incident brought great worry to the Third Hokage. He knew how skilled Kagami was. (Essentially, Kagami was as powerful as Hiruzen, but he could only use fire jutsus and Hiruzen could use others as well. However, Kagami had the advanced sharingan too, so he and the Hokage were almost equals in terms of their power and skills as elite ninjas.)

Hiruzen knew that if an enemy of The Leaf had been able to do this to Kagami, it was a serious threat that they had to worry about.

Unfortunately, they never found any clues about what happened there that day. And they believed that Kagami was dead.

The young Orochimaru never said anything about the incident there either. And the white snake was smart enough to make him believe that it didn't know what happened either, since it had fled too.

It was definitely a pretty dark day for Hiruzen. First, he hid an important truth from a genuine friend; and later, he found out about what happened to Kagami. He regretted not saying anything to Pedro and Mina, but he wanted the best for The Leaf and he always trusted Kagami.

This was why Hiruzen often wondered about what had been Pedro's final fate. Obviously, he always hoped that it had been a very good one, even though Pedro didn't come back to the "young Leaf"…

Eventually, Hiruzen was able to find out what had really happened after that time—the time when he was a kid that saw Pedro Namikaze…

Meanwhile, our protagonist arrived at the desert, after his most turbulent time jump. It was during Hagaromo's time, which was a hundred years before Hashirama Senju—the First Hokage—began to build The Leaf with his people...

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: A Mighty Opponent


	44. Chapter 44: A Mighty Opponent

**CHAPTER 44: A Mighty Opponent**

Just as the holy sage Hagaromo suggested, Pedro followed the sharingan's vision and his own gut feeling to choose the right moment for the time jump. Even though nothing was certain, Pedro felt that he was going to arrive at the right place. Such place was the ancient desert where he expected to meet Hagaromo in person, for the first time. (That was also the same location where the Snake King and the snakes fought "Goddess" Kaguya and her human Zetsu army, when Hagaromo—the legendary Sage of the Six Paths—was very young still.)

Pedro appeared at the right time and at the correct zone within the vast desert. However, the teleportation summonings were rarely flawless. Something had to go wrong…

And, as we already know, what always seemed to go wrong for him was that he never appeared on the surface. He appeared in the air, at high altitude above the ground, ready for another sudden free fall—just like when he met Mina, and just like his arrival at the Royal Valley from the Earth Realm.

It caught him by surprise again; but a few seconds after he noticed that he was falling down, he thought that it was the reason why the holy sage emphasized that he needed to arrive in sage mode at the desert.

"This time it won't be that bad because I am in sage mode! Thank you Hagaromo! You are a genius!"

Unlike the previous two times, he felt that this landing was going to be much easier and safer too. He was confident about his abilities as an earth sage. He also looked way too cheerful (for someone who was falling down from the sky) because he was going to meet the legend, the hero, and the savior from the ancient stories. He was going to meet the Sage of the Six Paths. He definitely looked strange because he didn't seem worried, even though he was falling down at a great speed.

His chakra—in sage mode—was more powerful because it included the natural chakra that he had gathered. He also had the moderate chakra shield of the earth sages. However, he knew that his chakra shield was not going to stop the fall by itself; it wasn't that powerful.

"Wind-shield jutsu!"

A sphere of protective winds began to appear around him, when he was 40 meters above the sands of the desert.

"Earth sage jutsu! Hands of sand!"

Several hands of sand began to rise from the surface. They clashed with the wind sphere and began to exert a great upwards force on it. They slowed it down considerably, but the sphere still crashed with the mountain of sand that was directly beneath it.

The crash was still quite intense; so even the strong winds from the shield were pushed apart completely. The moderate chakra shield on Pedro's legs was broken by the impact too, but nothing happened to him. His advanced earth-based technique, the wind shield, and the chakra shield managed to absorb the force of the crash. His fall was as strong as Kagami's fall at the forest, but, unlike Kagami, he had effective ways to stop it. It still lifted buckets of sand into the air throughout the mountain of sand where he landed, but he was unharmed.

Right before he had that violent first contact with the surface, he was able to see that there was someone else already there. There was a man with dark clothing on the top of the same mountain of sand where he landed.

However, when he finally landed, the impact was so strong that he even fell backwards and down the sand mountain. It didn't look too much like a mountain either, from above; but when his feet touched it, it was obvious that the ground had an incline going downwards, at a 20 degree angle. He landed right where the inclined surface started, at the top.

Before he fell backwards, he got another more clear glimpse of the man there, despite all the particles of sand that he left floating on the air. The man was holding Hagaromo's holy staff and facing the other way. He was probably looking at the other incline of the mountain of sand, on its opposite side. His hair was black and he was wearing a black cloak, like the one we had seen before in all the visions, but he didn't have the hood on. Was this man the Sage of the Six Paths? It seemed like he was waiting for someone there…

When Pedro finally finished his landing—all the way at the bottom of the sand mountain's hill—he was a sandy mess, but he wasn't hurt at all. Clearly, this wouldn't have been the case if he had not arrived in sage mode. Even though he left his belongings scattered on the hill, he still felt like everything had been great. He stood up practically unharmed.

"It's amazing how he really knew every detail, even something like this. This is why he wanted me to arrive in sage mode. He knew that it would save me from the landing!"

Pedro began to remove the sand from his clothes and from his head. He used a "soft" wind technique to finish that quickly.

"It's time for me to meet the greatest hero of the Human Realm. I wonder if that guy up there was him. He didn't have black hair at the Dark Realm and he was older, but, maybe he is younger now."

When Pedro looked up, he saw that the man had been standing there watching him. He probably had been there, looking at him, since he fell down from the top.

At that moment, the Sun was shining on Pedro's face in such a way that made it very hard to distinguish the face of the one at the top. The man had his hands behind his body and he was holding Hagaromo's staff with one of them. The black cloak's cape was moving with the wind, at his side, and he looked very dark, because of the sunlight and the angle from where Pedro was seeing him. Something was clear though: that guy was not an old man, and he definitely looked like the Sage of the Six Paths, but younger.

The man grabbed the cloak's black hood and covered the top half of his face with it. The Sun settled afterwards, and Pedro Namikaze got a very clear view of him. There was no doubt about it: he was holding the same staff that the holy sage had at the Dark Realm. His face wasn't visible now, because of the hood, but Pedro saw that the black cloak that this person had looked very much like the one that the "menace of the future" used in every vision where he was present. It seemed odd, because, why would Hagaromo wear that dark cloak, instead of the white one he always used? In spite of that, the man had Hagaromo's holy staff, so it made sense to think that it was him.

Pedro Namikaze shouted at the stranger:

"Hey! Over here! It's me! Hagaromo!"

Pedro only had the Namikaze sword, one knife, and Mina's dagger. Everything else had been left behind on the sand when he landed. He definitely didn't think that he would need any of it right away, since he wasn't expecting any kind of battle there. Luckily for him, he arrived in sage mode from the start! He had no idea of who was going to "greet him" there, and what was waiting for him…

The "dark-looking sage" didn't say a single word. He simply raised Hagaromo's staff and created five wind-based portals that pointed at Pedro's spot from different locations around him. A sixth portal of dark wind also appeared on the air, in front of the unknown one. After that, a powerful yellow cloak of chakra began to surround him. It looked exactly like the Seventh Hokage's (Naruto's) yellow chakra mode—which Pedro had seen in Hagaromo's vision previously, so he already knew what it looked like.

Pedro Namikaze began to feel concerned about what he was seeing. There was no need to display this kind of power, unless it was going to be used. This definitely didn't look like a welcome greeting. Something was wrong!

The man of the yellow chakra and the black cloak attacked with a devastating wind-based technique:

"Eagle sage art! Star tornado!"

He launched a horizontal barrage of chakra-powered winds through the last portal that he had placed in front of himself. The wind-based attack resembled Jounen's tornado jutsu, but the yellow chakra around it was making it look worse than that. The other five wind portals replicated the same attack and five yellow twisters came out of them. They were heading to the center (of a star-like formation that had the five portals at the five edges of the star); and the center was exactly where Pedro Namikaze was standing.

It was evident now that the one in the black cloak had to be an enemy. But… was he the Sage of the Six Paths himself, or was he someone else?

Pedro thought that it had to be someone else. But then… how did that person get Hagaromo's staff? And, even worse, why did the black cloak look so similar to the one that the unknown menace always used in the visions? Was it the same cloak? Was this the same person!?

Naruto had blonde hair, like Mina, so Pedro didn't associate this black-haired threat with the Seventh Hokage, even though he had a similar power with a yellow "chakra mode"…

"Earth sage jutsu! Land shaper!"

Pedro reacted by raising a large hill of sand where he was standing. Unfortunately, sand was pretty weak in comparison to solid earth and rocks; and sand was the only earth-like element at that desert. The hill's bottom couldn't stand the impact of the five twisters at the same time. They went through it easily, like a fish that goes through water, as if it was nothing.

The hill of sand started to lose height quickly, while it was consumed by the union of the five twisters at the bottom. Pedro Namikaze stayed above because he summoned four hands of sand that kept him above the turbulence. The hands came from spots below that had not been affected by the five twisters. From there, his view of the enemy was perfect. Pedro wasn't cheerful about the situation there anymore though.

"Why isn't Hagaromo here and why are you attacking me!? Remove your hood and show me your face!"

Pedro Namikaze sounded very aggravated.

This definitely wasn't the welcome that he was expecting.

The "mighty opponent" didn't say anything. He wasn't even done with his previous technique. He made another hand seal and pointed one hand to the five twisters that formed the star-like shape. Then, he raised his other hand up.

Pedro realized what would happen next very quickly. The star shape and its yellow tornadoes would rise up! It meant that it was going to catch him for sure. He had to leave that whole area as fast as possible. However, his full range to raise new earth-based hands was within the star. Those could not save him anymore…

He quickly grabbed Mina's dagger and threw it as far away as he could. He knew that her daggers already had a seal for quick use with the replacement technique; thus, he didn't have to mark it with the replacement seal first.

The five twisters united and began to form the star-shaped tornado. They went up quickly, destroying and pulling apart anything in their way up. Pedro disappeared from there when it was about to reach him.

"Replacement jutsu!"

Mina's dagger had fallen outside of the star tornado's area. He appeared there and the dagger appeared where he was before. Basically, they switched places. (This was the normal use of the replacement technique that Hiruzen taught him; the more advanced ways to use it—such as Mina's personal technique—teleported you to the other object's location, without switching places with it. Thus, you could grab the other object and use it again.)

The "dark foe" terminated the star tornado as soon as he noticed that his target had escaped. There was no need to waste more chakra on that. Even though his powerful inner chakra was plentiful, he still didn't like to waste it during battle.

Pedro Namikaze knew how vast the desert was. Regardless of how powerful the enemy was, he knew that escaping was not an option there. The only choice was fighting and neutralizing this threat in some way. And being in sage mode was his best bet to make it happen. Finally, he realized why Hagaromo was insistent about the need for him to make the trip in sage mode. It wasn't just to help him with the landing…

He couldn't let this powerful opponent get an advantage over him, so he was the one that resumed their confrontation, after the star tornado was gone.

"Grand earth-shaper jutsu!"

Hundreds of small spheres of sand levitated and took the shape of shurikens and knives. They were not as strong as rocks or other earth-based weapons, but they looked solid and deadly, like real shurikens and knives.

Pedro raised the multitude of sandy weapons to a high altitude and launched them at his mighty foe from every angle. It was a cascade of attacks that could not be escaped by any normal means.

Right before it began, the enemy placed Hagaromo's staff in the sand in front of himself, and he raised his hands. He began to strengthen his yellow chakra shield. The yellow chakra cloak that surrounded him became larger, more visible, and much more intense; it was almost like a real yellow flame, at a large scale.

The sand shurikens and the knives began to fall on him like a mini-meteor shower. Every single one was exploding or breaking apart, when they crashed with the powerful chakra shield. Not a single one was reaching the true target though. At the end, the artillery of sand couldn't break through the chakra shield.

Pedro Namikaze didn't give the enemy a chance to attack him. He quickly prepared a stronger technique, focused on delivering a single devastating attack:

"Earth sage jutsu! Crushing earth strike!"

He unsheathed his Namikaze sword and delivered a slash that was aimed at the enemy. Behind him, a giant sword of sand rose from the desert and followed the same trajectory as his sword. It was going to fall on the enemy's position!

The man within the black cloak realized that the giant sword was probably too much to stop it with his body's chakra alone. It was a risk to let it land on him, so he didn't allow it:

"Eagle sage jutsu! Crushing wind strike!"

He swung both of his arms at the sword of sand from the side, using another huge sword of wind that was created almost instantly. He split the sword of sand in half, right above his head. The two halves still had a grand clash with the surface, but neither of the two fell on him. He also knew that the earth sage was not going to recover instantly after using that large and powerful attack, so this was his chance.

The mighty adversary created a wind-based shuriken on his left hand and a yellow chakra shuriken on his right hand. Both had the size of a plate; however, he joined his hands and united the two. The union fused the two shurikens and created a much larger one:

"Cutting chakra shuriken!"

The yellow shuriken of spinning winds and chakra was one meter in diameter when the man of the black cloak launched it towards the earth sage. It didn't take a straight path either; the shuriken moved like a curve ball on a horizontal plane or like a boomerang—but it wasn't coming back because it wasn't shaped like one. It seemed like it wasn't going to hit the target at first, but, in reality, it was approaching it in curve fashion.

Pedro Namikaze had already seen this chakra shuriken before. It resembled a powerful attack used by the Seventh Hokage, Naruto, in his battle with the man of the black cloak and his guardians (in Hagaromo's vision). The mighty opponent had just used a similar version of the wind-based rasen-shuriken. He created it using a different method, but it still behaved like Naruto's attack.

"Earth wall jutsu!"

Pedro raised a wall of sand on his left. However, he quickly realized that it wasn't going to stop that huge shuriken. Right away, he made a hand of sand, and the hand pushed him forward with great force. It almost sent him flying forwards, but he knew what he was doing.

The chakra shuriken went through the sand wall as if it was nothing; and it also destroyed the hand of sand. It had gained greater speed at the end, so it reached the wall faster than what Pedro expected. It went through there at the same moment when the hand pushed him forward.

When he landed—several meters beyond where he was—he noticed that the earth sage's natural chakra shield was completely shattered on the back side of his body. The shuriken had not even hit him, but having it too close to him was enough to do that much. If something like that could hit him directly, he was dead, even in sage mode…

Who was this guy anyways? Was he the same one that he saw in his visions? How did he even know that he was going to land there!? It really seemed like the enemy had been waiting for him there…

Pedro was already aware of one thing: his earth-based attacks were not enough to defeat this enemy at the desert. (Sand was making them weaker, so they were not working in his favor.) It was very risky, but he felt that going at close-range combat with this guy was the only choice he had. The desert was huge and there was no place on sight to use as a shield, and no real options to escape.

Nearby, he saw Mina's dagger lying on the sand. He quickly grabbed it and placed it where he had it before, in the left side of his ninja vest from The Leaf. Seeing it again made him feel glad and, at the same time, it reminded him of her… He had to make it! It couldn't end there. He had to see Hagaromo and he had to return to Mina; however, he would have to get pass this enemy first.

Pedro grabbed the Namikaze sword. He already knew what to do next.

"Earth sage jutsu! Earth booster!"

His inner natural chakra—the amount he had gathered to become an earth sage—extended itself from his body to his sword. It focused entirely on his arms, his legs, and his sword. It would help him to deliver devastating close-range attacks, just like he did during Team Namikaze's battle versus Dormon.

When Pedro was done with focusing the sage chakra for close combat, rather than for techniques, he began to move quickly towards his foe. He was getting closer and close to the enemy.

The man within the cloak was starting to feel annoyed with this battle:

"I don't have all day long for this. Let's see what he's made of now!"

He began to prepare one of his major techniques, and he managed to unleash it before Pedro Namikaze could get to him:

"Eagle sage jutsu! Cutting windstorm!"

The wind everywhere began to get very heavy and violent. It seemed like there was no way to avoid it. The man of the cloak also started to mix part of his yellow chakra with the wind. The windstorm became a serious problem in less than 30 seconds.

Pedro Namikaze was just ten meters away from the mighty master of wind, but he had to stop moving and focus on not getting carried away by the storm. He thought about using the earth sphere shield, but he would lose complete sight of the enemy. What would happen if he threw another chakra shuriken at him at that moment? Clearly, he couldn't use earth shields because losing sight of the threat wasn't wise to survive.

The problem was that the traces of violent wind that were mixed with yellow chakra began to destroy the sage mode's natural chakra shield. Pedro realized how deadly the grand windstorm truly was when he noticed that. Slowly, but surely, the chakra-charged winds would end killing him. It was only a matter of time. And that wasn't all, the windstorm was making it too hard to move, so he couldn't do anything.

The unknown man was being protected by his yellow chakra cloak, which surrounded his black cloak. (Clearly, the chakra mode was more powerful than a sage mode. However, that guy also had sage-like powers for the wind-style.)

Pedro Namikaze looked at the man of the cloak, who wasn't too far from him. He was just maintaining the windstorm and standing there, as someone that was simply waiting for an inevitable outcome. Was this how it was going to end?

Pedro held Mina's dagger for a couple of seconds and, after years without using it, he decided that this was the moment to use it again:

"I am sorry Hiruzen, but I will have to make an exception to beat him. This is my last resort!

Inner chakra gates! Open first and second gates!"

The increase in speed and power from the forbidden taijutsu technique (a type of jutsu that used the body's life force, instead of chakra) combined with the current power from the earth sage mode made a devastating combo: now he could move and attack within the windstorm!

Pedro Namikaze rushed towards the enemy and directed a grand slash at him with the Namikaze sword. He advanced the ten meters between them in two seconds, in the middle of the wild storm!

The man of the cloak was not expecting that. He dodged, but the tip of the sword still reached him and it made a very large cut on the black cloak. It also went through the chakra shield, which was what surprised him the most. Something about the earth sage was different now. Clearly, he couldn't underestimate him!

The windstorm began to fade away very quickly because the enemy had to let it go to focus on the battle. Pedro Namikaze didn't stop his combinations of sword slashes and kicks; and he was considerably faster than before. The enemy had to act really fast. He made a wind-based blade with one hand and a chakra blade with the other.

A brief sword battle took place between them, until Pedro jumped back and gained some distance.

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

Three shadow clones of Pedro Namikaze appeared there. All three had the Namikaze sword, the earth sage mode, and the two open chakra gates. Together, the original and two shadow clones clashed with the enemy, while the third clone used earth techniques to shape the terrain for their advantage—just as Hiruzen taught him. It was a serious ninja battle among elites! Slashes, kicks, counterattacks, and spinning attacks were flying all over the place. It was impressive how the man within the cloak managed to handle that offensive all by himself, but even he was pushed back after a while.

The mighty opponent had no choice but to use his full power. The chakra cloak became more intense and several yellow hands of chakra came out of it, each one holding a chakra blade. For a moment, the man of the cloak looked like a yellow chakra demon. He had his two hands and about eight other hands with chakra blades covering him.

Nonetheless, the mighty foe noticed that he wasn't gaining a final and definite advantage over the earth sage and his clones. He looked at Hagaromo's staff and decided that he had to go back there to get it. Hagaromo's weapon wasn't a simple staff. It could help him to make a more powerful chakra blade that could cut through anything. Slowly, he began to make an opening to run and get the staff once again.

Eventually, all the clones disappeared, after getting caught by some mighty slashes from the chakra hands and their blades. Then, Pedro Namikaze went back and the enemy rushed towards the holy staff.

Pedro felt that his sage mode was approaching its limit. He didn't have much time left, and to make matters worse, he had opened the inner chakra gates too. Soon, the battle would be over for him, regardless of the outcome. He would feel hurt after the inner chakra gates depleted his chakra. And without sage mode, his chances to win against this enemy were almost nonexistent. He had to risk everything to end the battle quickly. Otherwise, his chances were over.

The man of the black cloak reached Hagaromo's staff and he fused his chakra blade and the wind blade with it. With the yellow aura and the wind surrounding it, the staff looked more powerful than ever before.

The time to end the battle had arrived.

Pedro Namikaze was going to risk everything on winning with his next offensive. He had no other choice.

"Inner chakra gates! Open third and fourth gates!

Shadow clone jutsu!"

He had not done this in years, so his limit was opening four gates (out of the eight), just like before. However, if you remember correctly, this packed a really serious punch in the battle versus sage Zet Outsutsuki (White Zetsu) at Maida's village. And Pedro Namikaze wasn't even a sage back then! This was easily the highest level that we had seen him at throughout the entire story so far; and, as if that wasn't enough, the other five shadow clones he made had this power too.

The original and the five shadow clones held their Namikaze swords and rushed towards the enemy. The mysterious foe raised his chakra mode and the yellow chakra around the staff to their highest level. The chakra grew around him, forming a grand aura that was several meters wide. Then, he also rushed towards the earth sage.

This was their final clash!

Pedro Namikaze and his clones were faster, but before all of them could reach the man of the black cloak, something unexpected happened. Five huge hands of chakra came out from the immense chakra cloak and grabbed the five clones. The hands rose very high and went back to the ground at a breaking speed. They were going to crush the shadow clones with the surface. However, before that happened, Hagaromo's staff, in the hands of the mighty opponent, and the Namikaze sword, held by Pedro, had a grand clash.

At that moment, Pedro could hear how the giant hands of chakra began to fall around them, on the surface; and he could feel the overwhelming power coming from the staff and the yellow chakra that surrounded it. The hands disappeared but so did his shadow clones, which were the last ones that he could make there.

The force of their clash was very strong and the impact felt like a massive shockwave. It was so great that the black hood was pushed away from the enemy's face completely. Then, the Namikaze sword began to crack, right where Hagaromo's staff hit it, and it fell down from Pedro's hands to the ground of sand. Pedro's sword was broken in two parts. His earth sage mode also came to a halt after that clash. (He was lucky because he still had it when that happened.)

Even though the enemy's face had been revealed, Pedro looked at his broken sword first. It brought him a fast flashback of the time when he saw the man of the black cloak and his alternate self, the First Namikage. This looked just like that time: the powerful shadow clones were gone in the blink of an eye, the sage mode was not enough, and the Namikaze sword was lying on the ground, broken. The only detail left was him: he wasn't dead yet.

Pedro looked at the man that had the black cloak on. He wasn't someone that he knew. He looked tough, serious, and a little younger than him (around 20 years old). A yellow color on the skin around his eyes was fading away—probably the "eagle" sage mode—but his yellow chakra cloak was just as alive as before. And this guy's crazy power, at the end of their clash, was only comparable with Naruto's "tailed beast" mode. That was the only thing like it that Pedro had seen before—and even that was seen through a vision only, not in person. Was there any way for him to beat such an enemy? Was this enemy a jinchuuriki like Naruto?

The mighty opponent talked to him:

"Are you ready to surrender? You can't beat me now. The battle is over earth sage and your time is up."

Pedro Namikaze thought very quickly: his time was not over, he still had the four open chakra gates. The sage mode had ended, but he still had one chance. He grabbed Mina's dagger and threw it at the enemy's face. Then, he grabbed a broken half of the sword from his feet and continued:

"Replacement jutsu!"

The enemy stopped the dagger, right in front of his face, with Hagaromo's staff. However, the dagger disappeared and Pedro appeared there. When the enemy saw him, Pedro was moving the broken blade towards him at great speed; there was no time to escape it!

The mighty one dodged backwards as fast as he could and grabbed Pedro Namikaze with a hand of chakra, but the broken blade still reached him, and it made a real cut on the left side of his neck. It wasn't a serious cut, but it was too close… It proved that if he had not been extremely careful, the earth sage could have beaten him, during one of those careless moments.

The mighty opponent held Pedro with the chakra hand, keeping six meters of space between him and Pedro.

"You are as persistent and stubborn as my brother and my father. I have to admit that much, but this is the end of our battle. Earth sage of the future, I win."

His voice was definitely not malevolent—like the voice of the other user of a black cloak in Pedro's visions—but it was still tough and unforgiving. So it was a reason to worry still, even though that different voice revealed that he wasn't the same man from the visions.

He turned half of his chakra cloak into a large yellow sword and he swung it at Pedro Namikaze—who was being held on the ground by a chakra hand, coming from the same cloak of chakra.

There was no way to avoid this one. Pedro thought that this was going to be his end, but there were many things that he didn't know still…

The chakra sword was halted in the air by someone that landed in front of Pedro. That person grabbed the other guy with his own yellow chakra—he had the "chakra mode" too.

"Enough Ashura! There is no need for more!"

Pedro recognized the new voice and the white cape that this man was wearing. It was the holy Sage of the Six Paths, Hagaromo! However, Pedro also recognized the name that Hagaromo said and that left him without words...

Both, Hagaromo and his descendants, were said to have great power. His two known sons—not the only ones; Zet was also his son, but these two were the famous and powerful ones that everyone knew about—were Ashura Otsutsuki and Indra Otsutsuki. Ashura was the leader of the Senju Clan, which was where Hashirama, the First Hokage and the main founder of The Leaf, was born many years later. Indra was known as the first leader of the once mighty Uchiha Clan, where Madara Uchiha was born (Madara was Maida's grandfather and a powerful villain from the past).

Indra had the sharingan eyes and Ashura had the "ultimate chakra," which once belonged to Goddess Kaguya. Hagaromo had both of those powers and more, because he was the one that sealed Goddess Kaguya's power—in the form of the Ten-Tails chakra beast—within himself. He was also one of her sons, so he inherited part of that power and the special eyes, even before he had to find a way to defeat her to save the world.

Legends from the past talked about all of them, but there were many details that were left out, and not much was known about how Kaguya gained her "powers"…

Pedro's inner chakra gates reached their limit when Hagaromo arrived. He began to feel plenty of pain as soon as the gates closed. His chakra was at pretty low levels too. And his consciousness wasn't very clear. However, his life was saved now; he knew that much…

Ashura was set free by Hagaromo and the holy sage walked towards his son. Ashura handed the holy staff to Hagaromo, but he didn't seem content with what he had done.

"Didn't you want me to fight him to the point of death!? I did exactly as you told me father. I even gave him the option to surrender.

Now, it's time for me to take off this hideous black cloak. This doesn't look like something a true ninja would wear. Monks wear this stuff. I don't know why it was so important for me to use your staff and this black cloak with my face covered to fight him. What difference did it make?

And, isn't he one of the 'great saviors' of the future that you talked about? I think our future is in great trouble if he is one of the ninjas that has to save us from an enemy that can beat even you. Did you see his utterly disastrous landing? And yes, he is very good in combat and a good challenge, but that is not enough to stop the kind of threat that you described. He isn't ready. If he was, then he would have been able to stop me, just like you can.

Father, it is time for you to tell me the truth.

Why did you even bring him here? Why did you want me to fight him at full power, as if he was a real enemy, and with that antiquated cloak on?!"

Ashura always followed his father's orders and decisions, but this time he didn't look happy about them at all. He felt that Hagaromo was hiding things from him.

Hagaromo touched Ashura's neck and healed it almost instantly. Next, he used his chakra to create a small yellow platform that moved him and Ashura to where Pedro was on the ground. Then, he put his hand on Pedro Namikaze's forehead and shared some of his chakra with him. Right away, Pedro's pain went away and he began to feel as if he had not used the inner chakra gates at all. Pedro's consciousness became more stable too. Finally, Hagaromo gave his answer to Ashura:

"That is exactly why I brought him here son; and that is also why I made you fight him. He is not ready yet. I wanted him to understand how powerful our true enemy really is. This enemy is capable of beating someone like you. I wanted him to experience that kind of power in a serious battle where he would not die for sure. However, I had to make him believe that it was the real deal; and that black cloak and my staff certainly did it, didn't they?

We need to get him ready for the battle that will decide our realm's fate in the future. We won't be there, but it is up to us whether he will be able to help the other saviors of the future or not. There are many things that he can learn with us, in the ancient past.

That is why I brought him here. It is the only way to save the future and our realm from the Snake King's future attack, and from the enemy that uses a black cloak, like the one you used today."

Ashura was beginning to understand his father better, even though he was sure that there was still something left to say…

Ashura threw the black cloak on the sand and looked at Pedro, who was still on the ground:

"If that is the case and if you truly will do so much for our world's future, then, I am willing to forget our battle here, earth sage Pedro Namikaze."

Ashura extended his left arm and grabbed Pedro's left hand to help him get up. At the same time, Hagaromo grabbed Pedro's right hand.

At least, Pedro Namikaze was glad that a round two with Ashura wasn't starting right away. That was one of the most intense battles he had in his life, and it wasn't even 100% for real! Clearly, he wasn't at their level. However, the holy sage already knew that. This was why he brought Pedro Namikaze to his time.

He knew that Minato's father was the "wild card" that was going to turn the tables on the Snake King's plan, which would occur in the future. Hagaromo already knew it because he was the one that could see the Human Realm's future, with his special sharingan.

The holy sage grabbed the two parts of the Namikaze sword and he changed it back to the way it was before:

"Six-Paths reversion jutsu."

Then, he looked at Pedro and asked the all-important question, while he handed him the Namikaze sword in perfect shape:

"Are you ready to learn what you need to help save The Leaf, its people, the future Hokage, and the entire Human Realm?"

Pedro Namikaze was already certain that this was the right path for him.

"Yes, I am ready Hagaromo.

Thank you for the help and the guidance that you are giving me."

Hagaromo's facial expression showed that he was glad to see Pedro Namikaze in person.

"Oh don't thank me alone, my young son Ashura will also be present in the training that I am going to give you. I hope that he will be enough as your sparring partner."

Pedro Namikaze looked at Ashura and raised his eyebrows while he talked:

"Sure, he will be enough; he counts as an army already."

Ashura began to laugh—which seemed impossible at first, with that serious tough-looking face of his.

"I think I am going to enjoy this. At least the earth sage has a better sense of humor than you and Indra, father. And, unlike my brother Indra, he can accept losing without getting vengeful. This shall be a great training."

Ashura crossed his arms, but he seemed satisfied. He was starting to feel better already about following his father's plan, even though he knew that the old man was surely keeping one or two secrets to himself—he always did it because he knew the future.

Hagaromo was pleased with this outcome. Pedro's arrival had been taken care of successfully. Now, his special training would follow. And then, the day of the great final confrontation would come…

Hagaromo raised Ashura, Pedro, and himself twenty meters above the sands of the desert, with his yellow chakra platforms. He also used hands of chakra to grab some of Pedro's belongings from the ground. He only took the two books—Pedro's diary and his own "Ancient Summoning Craft"—and the two summoning scrolls (the large one with all the names of the brave monkeys, and the small one with just three names: Enma, Yoninke, and Sarzan). He didn't pay any attention to the other weapons. Hagaromo only recovered what was necessary, and he knew that Pedro already had the teleportation dagger with him…

Then, they began to move towards the place where he would train Pedro Namikaze. The location was the "training temple" of the Sage of the Six Paths, which looked like a Roman stadium, or a colosseum, from the past. It was located close to the Otsutsuki Clan, which was the first formal clan of their "ninja world."

(Kaguya created the Otsutsuki Clan when she united their world with the power of the chakra fruit, which gave her most of those godly powers that she had. Ironically, it became Hagaromo's clan, right after he freed their world from the Ten-Tails chakra beast—which was what Kaguya turned into. Months after she defeated the Snake King and his army, Kaguya lost control of her power, as a side-effect of the Snake King's curse seal from their battle. She defeated him and removed his curse, but she was still affected in ways which she could not overcome. The chakra fruit's consciousness awakened and it eventually turned her into what it really was: the Ten-Tails beast that Hagaromo sealed away. Then, the legend of the Sage of the Six Paths was born and the truth about what happened before that was forgotten…)

Hagaromo talked to Pedro and to his son:

"Rest and eat well today, because tomorrow we will start with the important training that will make a difference for our future."

When he talked, Hagaromo looked just like he did at the Dark Realm, but now he was real. It wasn't a vision anymore.

Pedro Namikaze was eager to see what the future held for him, and what the Sage of the Six Paths was about to teach him. It had to be something amazing for sure. If Hiruzen taught him so much, imagine what this legend could teach him…

Little did he know that "the future" was going to happen faster than he expected… and it had plenty of surprises and unexpected outcomes...

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Essential Training


	45. Chapter 45: The Essential Training

**CHAPTER 45: The Essential Training**

Pedro Namikaze was amazed when they finally arrived at the grand "training coliseum." Obviously, it didn't look like an old relic—because it was still pretty new back then.

He had never seen anything like it during his time though. And it surprised him, because when we go to past, we don't expect to see things that look or feel more advanced than what we know. And that was exactly how that "ancient" training place felt like, especially from the inside. It didn't feel or look old. Inside, it looked like a small Olympic stadium, which was a huge space for just three people. Its perimeter was just three stories high and there was no ceiling, but the area inside was immense.

Before they landed at the center of the coliseum, Pedro also saw a far sight of the Otsutsuki Clan. It was several miles away, but it was clear that some sort of population lived there. The limits of the desert were halfway between the coliseum and the clan. However, the inside of the small stadium had been built with a new solid floor on top of the sand, so it didn't feel like it was in the desert still. The structure that surrounded the inner area also had seats for people, so clearly this wasn't just a temple for the Sage of the Six Paths.

The strangest thing about that "open temple" wasn't that it seemed quite modern though; it was that Pedro had never heard anything about that place during his time. Considering that it was a place built in honor of the legendary sage, it made sense that he would have heard it mentioned at least once. That wasn't the case though. During his time, it was as if that place had never existed. He even had to visit the Clan of the Sand once—as a young ninja from the Clan of the Stone—and he didn't see anything that resembled this place anywhere… As we all know, things don't disappear out of thin air, so there was a reason why that place didn't exist in the future, which was Pedro Namikaze's present before…

Hagaromo expected to see him surprised at first.

"What do you think about the Temple of the Sage of the Six Paths? As you can see, it is not exactly what you know as a temple; and, it was named in my honor, but it is not just for me. Here is where we do special tournaments, trainings, and some annual activities from the Otsutsuki Clan."

Pedro still had that previous thought bothering him:

"It's strange that I never heard about this place in the future. It's remarkable, without a doubt. Even in my time, I never saw anything like this."

Hagaromo already knew why the coliseum didn't exist in the future. However, he didn't mention anything about it, since, even the slightest change from his visions was capable of making a different future. Both Pedro and his son Ashura would find out what was going to happen to the coliseum soon.

Ashura wasn't worried about Pedro's revelation about the coliseum because he wasn't from the future. He only paid attention to Pedro's surprised look.

"You probably expected to see an old place full of monk geezers and meditators in black cloaks—like the one that father gave me to fight you. I don't blame you. Most of us expect the past to be more boring, less interesting, and highly antiquated, in some way. However, it isn't always that way. Some pasts were even better than what followed, especially if they were erased by some catastrophe and the survivors had to start all over.

After we are done with my father's training for your future, I will show you the Otsutsuki Clan. You will be impressed by some of the artifacts we have there. My father's special ninja tools are among them. We may be 'ancient' from your point of view, but we are quite advanced for our time. You will see."

Ashura was right about his comments, but he didn't pay any attention to the significance of what Pedro realized before: nothing about that coliseum existed in the future; and "the future" was less than 250 years later—it wasn't that long, so at least some portion of that grand structure would have survived, unless something really big happened there…

Hagaromo knew that the next morning was the ideal time to begin the essential training, so he postponed it till next day on purpose:

"The Sun will fade soon. We will begin tomorrow as soon as it begins to rise again. Ashura, show him where he can eat and sleep, at the other edge of the arena. And, before you leave, let me give you something Pedro."

Hagaromo made some kind of teleportation seal with yellow chakra, on his hand. He used a simple-looking unknown jutsu.

Then, a notebook appeared on his hand. It had the same seal that he used, but the seal vanished as soon as it appeared there.

Pedro Namikaze already had his other belongings with him—the large and small summoning scrolls, the diary, Hagaromo's book on ancient summoning seals, and Mina's dagger. He got them as soon as they landed on the arena, at the coliseum. However, Hagaromo knew that this new notebook would be important too.

"I want you to have this."

Pedro grabbed the notebook and he quickly noticed that the pages were empty.

"It doesn't have anything in it; all the pages are blank," said Pedro, a little puzzled.

"That is correct. You will use these pages to tell what you did and what you learned here with the Sage of the Six Paths. You will do the same thing as you did with the other diary. It is important that you do this Pedro Namikaze. You'll find writing ink and feathers that you can use in the same place where you will sleep."

Pedro didn't question Hagaromo's words. Somehow, he also felt that it was a good idea. After all, he didn't know if he was going to see this place and the holy sage ever again.

Hagaromo also revealed his plan for the training:

"Beginning tomorrow, we will be doing your training every day. During half of the day, Ashura and I will help you to master skills that we already know. For the rest of the day, you can practice and experiment with them on your own. You will also have time to rest and to write an entry in the blank notebook that I gave you.

We will start with the essential training tomorrow, and after that, I will lead the special training, which is the most important one for the future. The essentials are showing you how to reach sage mode in less than one minute, learning to use the sharingan eye more effectively, and teaching you how to do the grand summoning jutsu, so that you can bring all your allies with you using just one technique. You will have to master controlling sage chakra and your own inner chakra to learn these successfully. And you will get used to using the sharingan at all times, not just when your life depends on it.

After you pass this training with us, you will be ready to help the other saviors of the future, in their battle against the Snake King.

Think and rest today. Starting tomorrow, I need you to have your mind 100% focused on the training only."

Hagaromo sounded like a wise general.

He didn't know that Pedro Namikaze already had chakra control training at the Earth Realm, with the monkey king Enma and with Yashiro. Regardless, what Hagaromo had in storage for him was on a whole different level. The "special training," after they finished with "the essentials," was something that Pedro would have never seen coming. The initial phase was just a superb reinforcement for what he knew. What came after was the true reason why Hagaromo brought him to his time…

"Yes sir! My mind will be focused on our training here only, so we can succeed! I will be here tomorrow early in the morning!"

Pedro was enthusiastic. He would have elite training with the Sage of the Six Paths and with Ashura Otsutsuki. What could be better than that for a ninja!? (This was like being trained by Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee together.)

Ashura smiled a little when he heard what Pedro said at the end.

"Don't worry about that earth sage Pedro. You clearly don't know him well. He will probably wake you up to 'warm up' at 4 o'clock in the morning. You will hate him at first, but there is no better teacher than him at this realm. I am already used to it because I have had his 'trainings' since I was five, and I am nineteen now.

I am also the youngest teacher at our clan, so I have had experience with training others as well."

Ashura looked older than his age, but still a little younger than Pedro, who was nine years older than him.

That night, Pedro wrote the first entry in the second notebook, which he titled "Training with the Sage of the Six Paths." He also had another short conversation with Ashura. He felt ready for what was coming—or so he thought.

Hagaromo stayed outside at the arena, by himself, looking at the sky and thinking about their nearly inevitable fate. He summoned a hand of sand that lifted him high above the coliseum. Then, he looked at one of the largest shining dots in the sky, which was the Realm of the Snakes.

"The day is getting closer now. Soon, we will have to face you again. And I don't know if we are completely ready this time… I have to make it happen, no matter what. He has to be ready in the next 90 days. That is all the time we have left; and this is the best shot we have to defeat you. Unfortunately, I can only do this for him, since he is the only one that can use the time jumps now. The others will have to be ready on their own…"

After his short reflection, with just the dark sky and the desert as witnesses, Hagaromo went back to the surface and made a simple earth-based bed. There, he slept that night…

Next day, a bucket of water—which was a minor water-style technique—fell on Pedro Namikaze, at 4 o'clock in the morning—or in the night, since it was still dark. He fell out of his bed in shock. He grabbed Mina's dagger and looked up. It was Hagaromo, and he already looked fully rested, as if he had slept ten hours straight (gosh!).

"You said you would be ready early."

Ashura was standing there and he was prepared too.

"See? I told you."

Ashura was smiling once again.

It's too bad that they didn't have alarm clocks back then; so, even the learning curve for waking up was going to be pretty rough…

After a watery awakening that morning, Pedro Namikaze's three-months-long training with the holy sage began…

"You won't be able to help the other saviors of the future if you can't even become a sage in time. As you saw in your battle with Ashura, your chances aren't very good without your sage power. Therefore, learning how to obtain it quickly and knowing how to sustain it for longer will be your first task in our training.

Ashura will help us with his eagle sage mode, which he learned from a feathery friend of ours that lives at the Realm of the Birds.

Ashura will take over this first stage, since he already passed it successfully. I will watch your progress for this one."

Pedro Namikaze was wearing a white shirt and white ninja pants for the training, just like Ashura. They didn't have sandals or anything on their feet. Ashura also had a yellow cape, but he removed it before he began.

"First, let me show you how I become an eagle sage."

Ashura closed his eyes, united his hands in front of his face, and began to gather natural chakra from the wind for the eagle sage mode. As soon as he began, the yellow color on the skin around his eyes began to appear. It was incredibly fast! In just 30 seconds, he opened his eyes and his pupils were clearly different as well. They looked like an eagle's pupils. The skin around his eyes was completely yellow too. He had reached sage mode already!

(Pedro Namikaze's skin got brown around his eyes because he used the earth sage mode. Ashura's was yellow because that was the eagle sage mode's color.)

Pedro couldn't believe his eyes.

"How in the world!? I spent more than one year practicing it at the Earth Realm, and it still takes me four minutes!"

It was obvious to Pedro that Ashura was doing something different somehow. Otherwise, it made no sense that he could get it that fast.

"I hope that you observed me well during those thirty seconds, because now I will tell you how I did it.

I used my body's own chakra as the force that kept me 100% still during the whole time. Then, I absorbed the type of natural chakra that my sage mode uses, which comes from the wind; yours comes from the surface. I allowed it to go everywhere in my body, including into the eight closed chakra gates that we have inside. Then, I took back my inner chakra and allowed it to mix with the natural chakra, giving it one large final boost that completed the sage mode even faster. That will also allow the sage mode to last longer, since you are using your own chakra as well.

I also obtained it faster because I achieved zero movement using my own chakra, since the beginning, instead of trying to keep my body still through pure balance. It is almost impossible to be 100% still that way.

I am allowing my chakra to mix with the other one as well. It will not affect you, so don't worry. After sage mode is over, your chakra will return to normal again. While this is done, your chakra will act as more natural chakra, speeding up the process."

Half of this was completely new to Pedro Namikaze because he always separated the sage chakra from his inner chakra. He never allowed sage chakra to get into the eight vital chakra gates either—he feared it would cause major problems, or irreversible damage. He didn't even know that inner chakra could be used to "keep you still 100%," so he had never done that either. Why in the world didn't King Enma know about all that? It would have turned two years of training to become a sage into just two months! Clearly, the holy sage and his sons were on a different level, and their power was not the only thing that made them so great…

Pedro spent the first two weeks learning how to do the alternate method to become a sage and getting cold buckets of water in "the mornings."

The new method was pretty straight-forward, but doing it successfully was easier said than done. Hagaromo even had to hit him once with a lighting-style jutsu because he started to turn into stone, when things went wrong with the chakra control. Finally, at the end of the second week, he managed to do it right. He still wasn't as fast as Ashura—he did it in 50 seconds and Ashura did it in 30—but it worked, and it was a massive improvement.

Ashura even gave him props:

"Congratulations earth sage. It also took me 50 seconds when I learned it for the first time. That was when I was ten."

Ashura seemed happy about his training's success—he was the one guiding him during those two weeks—but his way of giving props went on a tangent. Pedro's face showed a reaction that said: "At ten!? He's a freak!"

Ashura's personality had many similarities with the First Hokage's personality. They were quite powerful, but sometimes they said things that made those around them think that there was something wrong with them. They were good guys though. They meant well even if it didn't sound like it sometimes. That was just the way they were. (We expect that all people with such powers would be like the holy sage, wise and level-headed, but that wasn't the case.)

Hagaromo intervened after he saw that Pedro achieved the first thing that he needed for the grand final battle.

"Now that you have achieved the first step, I shall use it to teach you the second one, which should be easier now. You will learn to open six of the body's chakra gates using an equivalent amount of chakra to what you used to open the first four. You will be able to do it faster as well, since my method does not require opening them one by one, or two by two. You will jump to using all six gates from the start.

As you already know, this is a last-resort technique, since the self-damage that it inflicts will guarantee that you won't be able to fight anymore, after it's over. This is why I won't teach you to open the seventh gate, nor the eight 'gate of death.'

There is one way to save those who open the eight gate, but I won't be around to save the one who does it, so it should be avoided, no matter how bad things get.

By the way, in case you didn't know it Pedro Namikaze, opening the inner chakra gates is the human sage mode. It is the most powerful sage mode that I have seen. Someone who opens all eight gates would be as powerful as I am, even if they don't have the power of the Ten-Tails chakra beast, and even without my rinnegan eyes. It is such a great power that our bodies are not ready to handle it yet. This is why using it at 100% is a death sentence. Only the Six-Paths healing seal can be used to save the user's life, but even then, some of the damage is irreversible, and they surely won't be able to fight again."

After knowing all of this, Pedro had to ask the last question he thought about:

"Hagaromo, will there be someone in the future that can use the eight gates, or the full human sage mode?"

Pedro sounded skeptical, but Hagaromo didn't give the subject much importance. He answered the question though:

"Yes, there will be one ninja from The Leaf that can do it; but it won't be you, so you shouldn't worry about this. Remember, your mind must be focused on our training only. Now, we shall begin.

First, you will achieve zero movement using the same method you used to get the earth sage mode faster. Use your own chakra as a force that will keep you still. Then, you will start to open the chakra gates, but, instead of opening one by one and filling then in that order with their unleashed chakra, you will start to open and fill all six of them simultaneously. You must be completely stationary in order to do this. Other sage modes require it; ours does not, but it is still necessary if you want to activate more than four gates at the same time.

Now, it's time for you to begin trying it."

Once again, it took him days of rigorous trial and error before he could get it right. However, with Hagaromo's guidance, he managed to open the six gates for the first time, just eight days after they began this second training. It seemed like he had learned it pretty fast, but Hagaromo wasn't surprised in the slightest.

The holy sage was pleased because everything was happening according to the schedule, and just as he had seen it in his vision of this future—which included Pedro Namikaze's trainings.

"Excellent. It may not be flawless yet, but you know how to do it now, so we can move on to training you to use the sharingan eye more effectively.

In battle, the sharingan can give you an edge for fast and effective counterattacking. Genjutsu won't work against an enemy that doesn't look straight at your eyes. However, the normal sharingan's ability to predict the enemy's next move, one second before its execution, will still work. It is an asset that can make you much more difficult to beat. In your case, this is even more prominent, since one of the innate abilities of your special sharingan is to choose the best path. If you learn to combine that special ability with the fact that you can see incoming attacks one second before they occur, then you can get used to dodging and responding with the most effective counterattack at all times.

You will have to learn to respond that way by instinct though. Frequent repetition in different scenarios and situations is a good way to achieve this.

In our training for this, focus on the sharingan and concentrate on seeing every move that is coming. Then, respond as best as you can."

Both Hagaromo and Ashura used the same technique at that moment:

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

A hundred clones of Hagaromo appeared levitating in the air, all over the place, and forty clones of Ashura appeared at the surface. They were everywhere.

"Now, one of my clones will attack you with a weak long-range technique, and one of Ashura's clones will do the same thing. My attacks will be either a ball of water, like the one I use to wake you up, or a weak sand arrow that will not hurt you."

The original Ashura added:

"My attacks will be different from his. I will use a weak ball of chakra or weak and small shurikens of wind, which won't have sharp edges. Be aware though, what I mean by 'weak' is that they won't open a hole on your head if they land on it; but they may hurt a little, so I recommend you dodge them."

Pedro immediately used the earth-shaper technique to make a small shield of sand, which wasn't that strong, but at least it was something—in case he didn't have time to dodge everything.

Then, Hagaromo gave him one more detail:

"Our attacks will not follow any pattern. They may occur in five seconds from now or in fifteen. They may not happen at the same time. One of Ashura's clones may act first and one of mine may attack after that, or viceversa. The only way for you to be ready for this will be using the sharingan you have to get you that one-second advantage over us, at all times."

The training began to get serious with this third phase. It also started to show the sharingan's great potential for battle, since Pedro Namikaze managed to dodge some attacks that he wasn't even seeing, because they came from behind. (He began to see those as well, with the sharingan, of course.) At first, he got hit by several of the water balls and by some of the "weak" wind shurikens. (They certainly didn't make it easy for him.) However, he started to get better pretty fast.

Then, they raised the difficulty by having more than one clone from each side attack him. Four of Hagaromo's clones attacked with a water ball, and three of Ashura's clones launched a wind-based attack. And all of that was at random…

This training got pretty crazy, but one thing was clear: the sharingan could see things right before they were launched, and it was giving Pedro and undeniable advantage to deal with situations like this.

When Hagaromo perceived that Pedro was ready, he released all the clones, expect one. Ashura did the same thing. Then, the time for training the sharingan in close-range combat arrived. Pedro Namikaze had to fight the two clones using the Namikaze sword only. Ashura's clone used a wind-based sword and Hagaromo's clone used a staff. They didn't use any technique; it was pure close-range combat, so that Pedro could focus on constantly seeing the incoming attacks with the sharingan and dodging or counterattacking, at close-range.

In total, the "sharingan training" took 20 full days. The end result was superb: Pedro was reacting much better, in both long-range and close-range combat, because he was using the sharingan now. He was seeing the incoming attacks right before they were directed at him. By the end of the twentieth day, he was doing it by instinct; he wasn't even thinking about using the sharingan; he simply saw all the attacks and reacted as best as he could. At first, he wasn't seeing all of them, but eventually he began to get the hang of it.

Hagaromo considered that Pedro Namikaze was finally ready for a "test." The sharingan's training wasn't perfect, of course, but he already knew how to use it pretty well and time was running out quickly. Hagaromo knew that he had to finish the essential training soon, so that he could begin with the "special training." They only had 90 days, and 42 days were already gone. However, Pedro had learned to become a sage much faster, he could open six of the body's chakra gates, and he was much better at using the sharingan's standard vision in battle, making him a more skilled ninja than before. It was all worth it, and he was still on schedule. Hagaromo knew he needed at least 40 days for the special training; thus, he still had eight more days to cover the essential stuff. The holy sage decided to use one day for the test and one week to teach him how to do the grand summoning jutsu.

"It is time to test what you have learned Pedro. Today, the training will be a battle with Ashura. I want you to use everything in this battle: the six inner chakra gates, the faster sage mode, the sharingan's aid, and any other technique or tactic that can help you to win. We will go to the open desert for this battle. Don't hold back against him and don't worry about opening the inner chakra gates this time. I am here, so I will heal both of you completely. However, in a serious battle outside of training, using the inner chakra gates should be left as a last resort to save your life. You already know that, so take advantage of this opportunity and use them here to their full extent.

Also, Ashura won't kill you, but he doesn't like losing, even in training, so expect him to be a mighty opponent, once again."

The three of them went to the open desert, outside of the coliseum's grand arena.

Hagaromo began to levitate and, from a safe location in the air, he watched the whole battle.

Ashura and Pedro started with 30 meters of distance between them, when "the test" began.

Ashura started with his eagle sage mode, which would take him 30 seconds to obtain. Pedro started with five shadow clones and continued with the earth sage mode. The shadow clones interrupted Ashura before he could finish, so it actually took him one full minute to become a sage, since, he had to deal with the clones first. Pedro followed the earth sage mode with opening the six inner chakra gates. Thanks to the shadow clones, he had enough time to do it all before Ashura was ready.

Their second battle was pretty intense too, even though they were not fighting as true enemies now. Ashura's chakra mode and his yellow hands of chakra were still a mighty force, but they were not fast enough to catch someone that had the speed of six inner chakra gates open. Moreover, the combined powers of the earth sage mode and the incomplete human sage mode were enough to match and challenge Ashura's "eagle" jutsus and his chakra powers. Because of his increased speed, long-range attacks like the big chakra shuriken were not working well against Pedro. He was fast enough to avoid them completely. And when Ashura engaged him in close-range combat, with the help of his chakra arms and their yellow chakra blades, Pedro's sharingan was seeing which arm was going to attack him next, one second before it did it. Ashura was feeling a true challenge this time.

(Ashura and Zet didn't inherit the sharingan eye. The only one of Hagaromo's sons that had it was Indra. Furthermore, Indra never awakened the rinnegans, but his mangekyou sharingan was quite powerful.)

All in all, it was clear to Hagaromo that Pedro Namikaze was fighting as an equal with Ashura. Neither of them was gaining a definitive advantage over the other. However, Ashura was not using any of the inner chakra gates, so the winner was still a given if the battle extended itself.

(Ashura's "chakra mode" was the power that he inherited from Hagaromo. It did not require activation or anything else; he simply had it. That power came from the supernatural chakra that Kaguya obtained. Hagaromo got part of it from birth—he was one of her sons—and he obtained the rest from his ritual to seal the Ten-Tails chakra beast and its power within himself. He was also the first human that was born with the special sharingan eyes. "Goddess" Kaguya achieved the highest power at the Human Realm, but even she didn't have the special sharingan.)

After three and a half minutes, the six inner gates reached their limit. When they closed completely, Pedro collapsed on the sand. He couldn't continue after that. Nearly all the chakra throughout his body left him, so he also lost the earth sage mode. The pain that followed was as bad as a lethal beating, and the toll on the body was visible this time: he began to bleed from the mouth and from the left side of his nose.

It was obvious that someone who opened all eight gates—someone that used 100% of the human sage mode—would die afterwards. It was also clear that someone at such a level would be more powerful than Ashura Otsutsuki.

Hagaromo used the Six-Paths healing seal technique on Pedro. It was his greatest healing technique—it could heal nearly all damage caused by chakra and it reestablished the patient's body as much as possible.

The effect of Hagaromo's healing was incredible. The bleeding and the pain stopped almost right away. Pedro couldn't get up before, but now he felt that it was possible.

"The first test is over Pedro Namikaze. You have done well. And now, you understand why this must be a last resort. You cannot use this in a normal battle, so you are going to need something else to beat an opponent that matches Ashura's level. We are going to begin working on that tomorrow. I will teach you how to do a grand summoning. If you have trustworthy allies and you have to fight a powerful opponent, you shouldn't hesitate about calling them. Having the ability to call all of them at once will make a difference for you."

Hagaromo knew how important it was to ensure that Pedro could beat someone at Ashura's level, because he knew that this was the level of the Snake King's main guardians, Black and Spiral. Thus, it was wise to ensure that "the most important piece" in the whole plan could stand against any of these obstacles. Beating the dark king himself was a different matter; even the holy sage would not have a guaranteed victory against him. However, Hagaromo knew that the other saviors of the future would be there too. Pedro Namikaze wasn't the only one…

Pedro had only seen the man of the black cloak using a grand summoning before. No one else had done it besides that guy, so the technique was a big deal for sure…

The next morning, Ashura sat down in one of the seats at the center of the coliseum. He knew that the next training would be led entirely by his father. Seal-based techniques were Hagaromo's specialty, no matter how complex they were. He even invented many of them himself.

(Hagaromo had the omnipotent chakra of the Ten-Tails beast sealed within. He had the final sharingan—the rinnegan eyes. He could also use all the elemental techniques, sealing techniques, and healing techniques. On top of that, he was one of the sons of Goddess Kaguya and a hero. Basically, he was the Jesus Christ of Naruto's world…)

When Pedro arrived at the arena that morning, he saw that Hagaromo was waiting for him with two large white bags and a big summoning scroll. The bags looked odd.

"Good morning Hagaromo." (It was 4 o'clock, as usual.)

"What are these huge bags for?"

"We are going to use them today Pedro."

Hagaromo grabbed one of the bags and placed it upside-down. A cascade of small stones fell down from it.

"What you see here are 302 sand stones. They are solid, but they break easily. These will help you to perfect your execution of a grand summoning. You will be summoning all of them together. They are not alive, but summoning these objects with a large summoning scroll works just like summoning other living beings.

I will teach you the seal that is used to summon every single contract from a large scroll at once. It is different from the normal summoning seal, so nearly no one knows this. We will mark every stone with a slightly different chakra signature, and we will fill this empty summoning scroll with the same unique signatures. Then, you will begin to use it, until you have the hang of it.

Don't forget that summoning these stones works just like summoning real allies."

They prepared all the stones and filled up every space in the blank summoning scroll with the 302 seals—which were the same chakra signatures that were placed on the individual rocks.

"Hagaromo, what is the other bag for?

Also, why did you bring 302 stones when you could have brought 300? Wouldn't it be the same?"

Obviously, Hagaromo wasn't going to tell him that he was going to summon 302 monkeys in the grand final battle at The Leaf of the future; and this was preemptive training for that. However, the holy sage was happy to see that this little detail didn't elude his apprentice's awareness. He noticed that there were 302, rather than 300, which means that he actually counted them. The earth sage didn't miss any detail and he certainly was smarter than he looked. Hagaromo—better than anyone else—knew that this quality was more important than all the power in the world, because it was the only weapon that could defeat a far more powerful enemy.

(In the past, the holy sage won against the Ten-Tails chakra beast without being able to defeat it, thanks to his advanced sealing techniques. He sealed the beast and its power within himself. Obviously, the beast that was the living embodiment of the original chakra fruit from the Zeta Realm was more powerful than what any human was ever going to be. Defeating that menace took more than just power and bravery. And Hagaromo was the one that figured out how to do it.)

He didn't reveal his true intentions to Pedro Namikaze:

"I filled the bag up to the top and that was the number of stones that it could carry. And you will see what the other bag is for soon. Try using the new seal and the summoning scroll we completed to bring all the stones to your side. Summon them all at once. It is the same process as with a normal summoning, but you will focus the seal and your chakra on the entire scroll, not just on one of the signatures."

Pedro created the grand summoning's seal and used it on the entire scroll.

"Grand summoning jutsu!"

Then, between 80 and 100 of the 302 stones appeared in the air around Pedro, at different heights above him. And they began to fall.

It was a total disaster…

All the stones that appeared too high ended up broken after their crash with the surface. The others didn't have an easy landing either. And we are not even counting that less than half of the total appeared, so he was not successful at summoning all of them either.

Hagaromo walked up to him with the second large bag, and he opened it, revealing that it was full of sand stones too.

"This is what the other bag is for. You will continue with the remaining ones. Then, when all of those break, you will use these and mark them with the same chakra signatures that the scroll already has.

As you can see, if you were summoning monkeys from the Earth Realm, you would have killed half of them, just with the initial landing. You also don't cover enough area with the grand summoning's seal to summon all of them. That can be handled with your shadow clones. Together, you and the clones can summon all of them at once, if you join your summoning seals. That will increase the area for the grand summoning and give you enough space to bring all of them."

Pedro Namikaze spent the next seven days practicing the grand summoning technique with his shadow clones and with the stones of sand. Hagaromo guided him to make sure that he would be able to achieve it in less time. Ashura didn't participate in this training, but he watched what they did; and he was there every day, sitting on one of the seats at the center of the coliseum's perimeter.

During the seventh day, Pedro and his four shadow clones finally got it right: they managed to summon all the stones within a large circular area, at the same height (just half a meter above the ground), and without damaging any of them. Pedro's tendency to make things appear above the ground didn't allow him to summon all of them at ground level, but it was good enough like this. Half a meter wasn't going to hurt anyone, unless it was someone crazy—like Yoninke—who liked to "meditate" upside-down.

When Hagaromo saw that, he decided that the time for the special training had arrived, and the essential training had come to an end. Pedro had completed all the essential tasks.

They only had 40 days left, before the day when the Human Realm's future fate would be sealed.

It was time…

Hagaromo was standing at the center of the arena, in the coliseum, when he called Pedro Namikaze. Ashura was sitting in the central area as well, but he wasn't close to them. Neither Pedro nor Ashura had any idea about what Hagaromo was about to do.

"Pedro Namikaze, you have finished the essential training. Now, I am going to give you the new power that you need for the final training with me. This will allow you to reach my son's level without using the inner chakra gates. Please stay still, and keep both of your eyes looking at my eyes."

Pedro wasn't worried at all, but he was beginning to wonder what "the new power" was, and what kind of special training the Sage of the Six Paths had saved for last.

"Hagaromo, what is the power that you are going to give me?"

"You will see. This is part of what you need to help the saviors of the future during their grand battle with the Snake King."

The holy sage seemed completely focused on what he was about to do. As always, it was very hard to guess what he was thinking because his rinnegan eyes—the sharingan's final form—had different pupils than normal eyes. His eyes had a light violet color on the background and various black and thin concentric circles around the eye's center. There was no way to tell what he was thinking just by looking at his eyes…

Hagaromo's chakra began to create a large yellow aura around him and Pedro.

"Six-Paths transfer seal!"

A large special seal appeared on the ground. The holy sage and Pedro Namikaze were standing at its center. It had a diameter of five meters and it glowed with the yellow chakra.

Ashura noticed that his father's last action seemed strange. Why was he doing that? Why would he need the special transfer seal for a training?

Hagaromo placed his left hand on Pedro's left eye—the one that was opposite to Maida's sharingan—and his right hand on his own left rinnegan eye.

Then, he did it:

"Six-Paths rinnegan transfer jutsu!"

When Ashura saw him placing his hands on the opposite eyes, he knew what was going to happen and he rushed into the arena to stop him:

"Father, stop! Don't do it! Dooonn'ttt!"

He didn't make it in time.

Before Ashura could interfere, the seal surrounded Hagaromo's hands and became pure light. Then, the light vanished and it was done.

Pedro Namikaze thought that he was dreaming for a minute. (Waking up before 4 a.m., that was no wonder.)

Pedro felt very different after it was finished. He only realized what really happened when Ashura arrived, enraged with the choice his father had taken.

"Why have you done this!? Do you understand what you have done father!?"

Hagaromo looked at him with his right rinnegan and with his normal left eye—which was the dark green eye he had as a little kid, before he got the mangekyou sharingans, and before he got the rinnegans.

"Yes, Ashura. I know what I did. I saved the future of our world and ensured the freedom of the human race for a while longer. Their chance of success is far better now."

Ashura felt the opposite way:

"No! You gave him almost 30% of your power. You may no longer be the most powerful person at the Human Realm. You won't be able to stop wars single-handedly, like Goddess Kaguya could! What have you done!?"

Hagaromo wasn't yelling like Ashura. He was calm and sure about his choices.

"Ashura, I would gladly give all my power if it guaranteed me that the human race's future will be saved, and that the Snake King will be destroyed once and for all. You should think the same way, if you care about the people in our world."

Ashura felt frustrated.

"I care about everyone, and that is why this worries me father. Now, you won't be able to halt conflicts and wars. And if this Snake King is so powerful, then the earth sage and his friends won't be able to defeat him either! The rinnegan won't be enough!"

"You may be right son, but he won't be alone. Other powerful allies, the other saviors from the future, will be there too."

Ashura still couldn't calm his frustration.

"I can't understand you. Why are you so afraid of this Snake King!? Why can't we pay him a visit at the Realm of the Snakes?! My brother Indra, you, and I can defeat him! We can finish him there now! We don't need these future saviors that you are so obsessed with!"

Hagaromo didn't like his son's reaction because he, better than anyone else, understood why they couldn't do that. After all, he was the only one that could see the future's possible paths.

He revealed something that he had never told anyone yet.

"We already did that Ashura, in one of the futures that I saw several years ago, when I started to train you.

The Snake King is as powerful as mother Kaguya, and he is not alone. His guardians can easily challenge us as well. Together, they killed you and Indra. I destroyed the two guardians after you two fought them, but I couldn't stop him. He has techniques that even I don't know anything about. One of them does something that even my vision of the future can't reveal. I suppose it doesn't take place at the Human Realm. That may be why even I cannot see it.

During that battle his guardians and you two died, but he still won. He defeated me with his unknown technique. He didn't kill me though. Instead, he used me and returned to the Human Realm as me. Then, he brought the snakes here and, in that future, they defeated our armies because neither mother Kaguya nor us were here to stop them. He took over the Otsutsuki Clan and colonized the Human Realm afterwards.

It has always been like this in all my visions of the future. He defeats us in all of them, except one. And that is the one where Pedro Namikaze and the other saviors of the future are present. We won't be able to help them much, but others that are like us will be there when the Snake King returns. They will succeed where we failed. And for that purpose, I gladly gave him the rinnegan; and I will teach him how to use it."

Ashura calmed down, but he still looked very disillusioned. He didn't know what to believe.

"If that is your wish… I won't stop you father, but I won't stay here either.

I hope for everyone's sake that you are right about everything."

Ashura turned around and began to leave without looking back.

"Ashura wait!" shouted Pedro.

However, Ashura just waved his left hand to say good bye and he left them there, without looking back even once.

"Hagaromo, are you sure about this?"

Pedro felt different. His new left eye radiated with pure chakra-based power. However, he was more worried about Ashura's reaction than about his new left eye.

"Don't worry too much about him Pedro Namikaze. He just needs time to think. He is young and powerful, but not very wise yet. He will be back before you leave. You'll see.

What I need you to do now is to keep your mind focused on our last training here. The future of our realm may depend on it. During the next month, I will teach you some extremely useful techniques that the final sharingan can do. You will need them to help the others in the battles of the future."

There were so many questions in Pedro's mind at that moment, but one of them stood out for him:

"Hagaromo, before we continue, there is something that I need to know.

Who are the saviors of the future?"

Pedro was serious about this question.

Hagaromo smiled because he liked the question.

He was glad to know that "the trump card" for "the saviors" was young and skilled, but pretty clever as well. He was asking the right questions at the right time…

Hagaromo went straight to the point, since Ashura wasn't there anymore. They were alone at the great arena.

"At this point in time, we are the only saviors of the future. I was the very first one. However, as time goes on, others become saviors as well. Our united efforts are the only power that can defeat an enemy like the Snake King. None of us has what it takes to do it alone."

Hagaromo wasn't done though. He was about to reveal who were two other saviors that, in many ways, were as crucial as Pedro Namikaze, and as important as himself, to save the future.

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Saviors of the Future


	46. Chapter 46: Saviors of the Future

**CHAPTER 46: Saviors of the Future**

Hagaromo knew that revealing some details to Pedro Namikaze was not going to change the future, because he already knew about them. For the things that Pedro knew nothing about yet, the holy sage decided to maintain complete silence, until the time to reveal them was right. Eventually, Pedro Namikaze was going to find out the truth about everything—including Hagaromo's plan, the identity of all the other saviors, the fact that he had already died (Maida Uchiha sacrificed her other mangekyou sharingan and her life to bring him back), and the fact that he was Naruto's grandfather and the father of the legendary Fourth Hokage, Minato…

Hagaromo continued talking to Pedro:

"Although there are many people that will fight in the future battle against the Snake King, there is only one selected group of individuals that will have a real chance to defeat him. That group's members and the ones that did something crucial in the past to help them are the ones that I call the saviors of the future. Every person in that group was critical to fulfill my plan, in one way or another.

I was the first one, but there are others in the group that will be more important than me to save our realm's future. You have met some of them already, during your time at The Leaf. You also saw them in the last vision that I showed you at the Dark Realm."

Pedro remembered Hagaromo's vision.

There were only two people that he recognized there. They were Naruto and Sasuke. One was the new Hokage of The Leaf, and the other was an incredibly skilled agent that worked for the Hokage. He had met both of them in person, after Hiruzen took him to The Leaf. They were just kids back then. However, even at that time, their great potential was clear. Naruto's aura of positivity and his desire to be Hokage were contagious. Pedro admired the kid and he liked talking to him at the fast-food ramen restaurant. It felt like they had many things in common. This was why Pedro encouraged the kid to follow his dream (at the time when he left The Leaf to go to the Earth Realm). On the other hand, Sasuke's potential was also clear from the beginning: Pedro saw the boy's sharingan eyes at the desolated Uchiha village; and they definitely looked powerful, even though Sasuke was just eleven or twelve years old at that time.

Pedro looked at Hagaromo, and, based on the question that he asked, he obviously had figured it out:

"Naruto and Sasuke?"

Hagaromo nodded.

"Yes, they are among the saviors of the future.

The blond Hokage and you are as essential as me to make this plan work. Without you two, we won't be able to defeat the Snake King."

Pedro remembered that he had heard several people at The Leaf refer to the Fourth as "the blonde Hokage," so he wondered if Hagaromo was talking about him.

"The blonde Hokage? You mean the Fourth?"

"No, I mean the Seventh, Naruto Uzumaki. He is blonde too."

Pedro felt glad. It felt good to know that the kid from back then—and the same blonde boy from his initial visions—had achieved his grand dream. He became the Hokage. He was also pretty powerful, based on what Hagaromo's vision showed him the last time. However, he couldn't defeat the man of the cloak and the three guardians by himself. With the help of others, it could have been possible though.

Pedro already knew that he was going to be one of these "others." The future Sasuke was also one of these "saviors." But, what about the rest? Who were the others? Pedro's curiosity was starting to pinch him:

"Hagaromo, what should I know about the other saviors? You talk as if there are several of them. Who are they?"

Hagaromo looked pretty serious at first.

"I can't tell you anything about the others Pedro Namikaze.

Remember that the future is like an incredibly malleable 2d plane; even a minor change in the past can make a dent on it. That is why I managed to build a plan that could help us to beat an enemy that we were not supposed to beat. Make enough of those dents in the past and you will be able to change even a future that seemed certain. However, the same thing can happen to us if I tell you anything else now. You will know the rest when the time is right.

We are the only saviors now, so our focus must be on the things that we can do today to make a positive difference for tomorrow. The others will do their parts during their lifetimes.

Now, you need to learn the rinnegan's techniques that will be crucial to help the others. The rinnegan is the most powerful natural weapon that the human race has known. Some call it the ultimate visual power, and as such, it can do many incredible techniques. However, there is no time for you to learn even 10% of them. You will have to focus on learning only the ones that are a necessity to make our victory possible.

I will teach you how to block all the elemental jutsus and most chakra-based techniques with the rinnegan. You will also learn rinnegan techniques, such as the rinne-slash, the rinne-shield, the reversion technique that I used to return your sword to normal, the Six-Paths seal breaker, the ultimate earth-based technique that the rinnegan can do, and an alternate way to do the rinnegan's transfer technique, which I used to pass my left rinnegan to you. In addition, it is essential that you learn the holy sealing jutsu, which is not one of the rinnegan's techniques. You will need it to seal the soul of a powerful undead opponent that will be summoned by the enemy. If the others don't know an advanced way to seal such a threat, then you might be the only one who can do it. Because of that, I will teach you the holy seal and how to use it.

You still have a lot to learn and we don't have much time left. If my plan is going to work, as I believe it will, then you have to leave in exactly 40 days from today. Therefore, you must learn everything I mentioned within the next month. We will begin tomorrow, so make sure that you continue focused on the training. The special training with the rinnegan is the main reason why I brought you here. It is the advantage that can save your life, and the lives of the other saviors as well.

Eat and rest well Pedro Namikaze.

Tomorrow we will start your final training. And you will go back to The Leaf when it ends."

That night was very different for Pedro.

The rinnegan eye made him feel like he had a "sphere of power" as his left eye. Even the mangekyou sharingan didn't feel close to it. It almost felt like something that wasn't human, yet, he could see well with it. The eye didn't feel unnatural, but its power did. Obviously, he would have to get used to it.

(Throughout the Human Realm's history only two people awakened the rinnegan eyes on their own. They were the Sage of the Six Paths and Madara Uchiha—Maida's grandfather, an Uchiha warlord, and the First Hokage's greatest rival. Anyone else who got the rinnegan obtained it through other means—they didn't awaken it on their own. Sasuke, the Uchiha of the orange mask, and Pedro Namikaze were examples of this case.

Sasuke got his left rinnegan during the Fourth Great Ninja War, where all the big clans—including The Leaf—had a war with Zet's army of solid clones, and with the revived Madara Uchiha.)

Starting that night, Pedro had more time to think about the future in the horizon, since Ashura wasn't there anymore. It was just him, his thoughts, and the second diary…

Hagaromo always slept outside "with nature." The holy sage had a great connection with the realm itself. He preferred to feel the night's wind and to sleep under the Moon's light. He was remarkable, but he was also very different, in ways that we didn't know about yet. Eventually, Hagaromo's secrets and the hidden past of princess Kaguya (or Goddess Kaguya, his mother) would be revealed to Pedro Namikaze as well…

Hagaromo began the new training by showing Pedro that the rinnegan eye had the innate ability to block all jutsus completely—with just a few exceptions, of course. The power to halt or block other techniques wasn't even a technique; it was simply something that it could do.

"To begin, I am going to show you how the rinnegan can either block or absorb all chakra-based jutsus. That includes any elemental technique and most of the sharingan's techniques.

I want you to use your normal sharingan eye to cast a genjutsu on me. After that, I want you to use your most powerful earth-based jutsu to attack me directly. Don't hesitate. And continue attacking me after that first try."

They were at the battle arena by themselves.

Pedro Namikaze looked at Hagaromo's eyes and used Maida's sharingan for the genjutsu. Hagaromo was looking straight at his eyes too, but nothing happened. The rinnegan blocked the genjutsu completely and it never affected Hagaromo.

Next, Pedro Namikaze entered sage mode, after fifty seconds went by. Then, he created an earth-based sword with sand—as large as the one he used against Ashura in their first battle. He lifted it and used it to strike Hagaromo from above. Hagaromo used a new technique to destroy the half of the sword that wasn't going to reach him:

"Rinne-slash!"

A fast strike of red-looking chakra shattered the bottom half of the sand sword, as it approached the ground. Then, the top half of the sword fell on Hagaromo, but the section that was going to hit him directly broke apart completely, before it reached him. The sand fell back to the ground, around Hagaromo, and none of it touched him. He had blocked it with his right rinnegan.

Pedro made another earth-based sword, but this time he sent it straight at Hagaromo, horizontally, instead of raising it first to strike from above.

"Rinne-shield!"

A spherical shield of violet chakra covered Hagaromo. The whole sword crashed with it. The tip of the large sand blade hit the shield and the rest of the blade continued advancing against it. At the end, the rinnegan's shield stopped and destroyed the entire sword of sand, and it didn't look like it had been affected at all.

Pedro Namikaze created five shadow clones and went against Hagaromo. He thought that if jutsus didn't work, then, surely a full close-range assault would make a difference. Hagaromo used that chance to show him what the ultimate earth-based technique from the rinnegan was like.

"Rinne-earth, planetary devastation!"

Very large solid chunks of sand began to rise from everywhere. They were aimed at the shadow clones and at Pedro Namikaze. They kept coming from the ground nonstop! And when one of them touched one of their targets, all the others went that way. They formed a large ball of earth chunks together, keeping the target completely trapped inside it. Then, the giant ball began to consolidate, halting the victim's movement completely (and surely asphyxiating it as well).

The clones were caught fairly quickly with this technique. It took longer to catch Pedro Namikaze, but as soon as one of the sand chunks stuck itself on him, it was over. The rest followed; and he couldn't even move well like that. When several of them trapped him, they also raised him way above the ground, making it even harder to do anything.

Before the sand chunks around Pedro began to become a single solid earth sphere—which would have killed him—Hagaromo stopped the technique and destroyed the sand balls that were holding Pedro. The others that held the clones had crushed them already and were quite solid.

Hagaromo used a powerful wind-based technique to ensure that all the giant balls of solid sand were going to fall outside of the coliseum's battle arena; and they did.

"Now that you saw how these techniques work, it is time for you to learn them. All of them use natural chakra that comes from the rinnegan itself. They can be considered very high-level sage-type techniques, but they do not require any sage mode. And you don't need extra time to use them. Having no chakra and being exhausted would be the only things that would stop you from using them in battle. They don't require the use of special chakra seals to prepare them either.

The rinnegan's slash—rinne-slash—is the most powerful chakra-based slash. It would beat one coming from any of the grand elemental swords, regardless of whether it is made of earth, fire, or even lightning.

The rinnegan's shield—rinne-shield—surpasses all the elemental shields as well. Likewise, it will stop even the most powerful elemental attacks that don't come from the rinnegan itself.

The most convenient technique might not be the shield though, especially if you have to stop elemental attacks. The rinnegan is capable of blocking and absorbing all the elemental jutsus. It not only destroys the attack before it reaches you, it also gathers the attack's natural chakra and makes it your own. Thus, it works as a way to gain more chakra if you have depleted your own. It is an easy way to stop most jutsus completely.

However, be careful. It doesn't work for every jutsu in existence. Techniques that don't attack you directly, those that change the environment or increase the enemy's power in some way, cannot be stopped with the rinnegan. Also, you saw it in my vision and I have seen it in other visions as well. Our main enemy has a technique that engulfs you and him with light. It seems to be his finishing technique. It defeated Naruto Uzumaki. And it has defeated me as well. That means that even the rinnegan cannot block it. I assume that it isn't a chakra-based technique. However, I don't know anything else about it."

The source of the Snake King's power and his true identity were still unknown to Pedro Namikaze. Hagaromo had a much better idea of where that power came from, but even he didn't know the exact identity of the one who became the Snake King. Nonetheless, Hagaromo wasn't too worried. He had seen the final enemy defeated in one of his visions, and he had done everything to make sure that the future would take that path. He didn't know exactly how it happened, but it was possible. And both, Pedro Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki, had to be there to make it possible. Without them, the enemy's defeat never happened in any of the visions. Only the one that had both of them present made it possible…

Pedro began to learn how to use the rinnegan's chakra-based power to use the rinne-slash, the shield, and the ultimate earth-based attach. He also learned how to block other jutsus with it. Hagaromo could use techniques from all the elemental styles and he had the other rinnegan too, so he was the ideal teacher for this training. It took them two weeks to start seeing serious progress, and one more week to finish it. In just twenty-one days, Pedro Namikaze learned to use the rinnegan and these powerful techniques.

The rinne-shield could block a few rinne-slashes without problems, so Hagaromo tested that Pedro did the shield right with one of his own attacks. They also used large sand structures to practice the uses of the rinne-slash on an enemy. It was an incredibly deadly technique if multiple slashes were used, one after the other. "Planetary devastation" was also very powerful, but, as expected from the ultimate earth-style technique, it required plenty of chakra, so it had to be used sparingly.

After all that, they still had 19 days left. Pedro still had to learn the other four techniques, which were not about attacking. Those were even more important than the rinnegan's attacks, and Hagaromo knew that fact very well, from his visions…

"The four techniques that I left for the end of your training can be learned much faster than the others, but don't let that fool you. They are the most important techniques that you will learn in your life. And they will be crucial to make a difference in the battles of the future.

Two of them require the rinnegan. One has a more powerful effect if it is done using the rinnegan, but it can be done without it. And the last one doesn't require any type of sharingan, but no one besides me knows the chakra seal to use it at this time.

For the Six-Paths reversion jutsu, you must create the chakra seal that I will teach you, using the rinnegan's chakra. Then, you will have to place it on your enemy. After that, you have to activate it with the rinnegan. You need to be fast and clever about it; otherwise, someone that knows advanced techniques can remove the seal from their body before you activate it. It is best to place this seal on someone without them realizing that you did it. However, we both know that things are rarely that easy. You will have to find a way to succeed. For now, just make sure that you learn the technique well.

The reversion technique works on objects and on people. It takes them back to their previous state if it was different from the way they are now. It will fix broken objects, but it will also return enemies to their previous form, if they gained a more powerful form that changed their previous composition altogether. For example, it can remove sage mode instantly. If it was done to you during a battle, you would lose your earth sage mode, as if you had never entered that state.

Let's begin with the reversion technique. We don't have too much time, so you will have to memorize the complex seal it requires as soon as possible."

Surprisingly, the reversion technique was not hard to do after knowing its unique and complex chakra seal by memory. The hard part was going to be making the seal in the middle of a battle and being able to place it on a powerful enemy. Without threats and using it on objects, it was just a matter of knowing how to do it—and it worked wonderfully. (Pedro Namikaze suspected that the holy sage never paid for a repair service again after he created that technique. It worked like a charm on objects!)

It took Pedro three days to learn and practice the reversion seal on some objects. Then, they moved on to an obvious counter-measure for these types of techniques: the seal breaker jutsu.

"Now that you know the reversion seal and how to use it, I will teach you the Six-Paths seal breaker. With it you will be able to erase all seals placed by you or by someone else."

Pedro still had something important to ask about using reversion:

"Wait. Hagaromo, can't you use the reversion technique on yourself to regain the rinnegan that you gave me?"

The holy sage laughed.

"You are pretty clever Pedro Namikaze, but it doesn't work that way. I didn't change into something else when I gave you a rinnegan. I lost power and chakra, but my body, or my form, is still the same. My chakra flows didn't change either, as they do with a sage mode.

Reversion is not perfect either. You cannot use it to revive a dead person, even though that is a considerable change of state for the body. Jutsus are not flawless Pedro. In special cases, they might not work as you expected, or they might not work at all. You need to be ready for that, if it ever happens to you.

Now, let's focus on the seal breaker."

The seal that could be used to destroy other seals wasn't as complex as one might expect. Regardless, most people didn't know it. Hagaromo knew the original one and a variation that used the rinnegan's chakra. Obviously, the rinnegan's Six-Paths breaker seal was the more powerful of the two versions by far. (The other one was the same one that we saw Kagami Uchiha use before, when he destroyed the summoning seal that brought the giant snake Manda to the Human Realm.)

Hagaromo showed him the special chakra seal that he would have to memorize to use the seal breaker technique.

"If you create this seal using the rinnegan's chakra and you place it on someone else, or even on an object, then you will be able to erase all the chakra seals on the target, as soon as you activate this. It will also work if you use it to remove any seal that was placed on you.

Some types of summons and powers that rely on seals can be cancelled completely with this technique. It is also possible to use it without the rinnegan, but it becomes less useful because when it is done with your own normal chakra it only removes one seal at a time. You also have to create and place that particular seal on top of the seal breaker, so you would also have to know how to do the seal that you want to remove. With the rinnegan, all the chakra seals on the target are broken and erased, even if you don't know them."

This seemed to be an incredibly useful technique, so Pedro was very eager to learn it as soon as possible.

For practice, Hagaromo placed elemental seals on Pedro, such as an earth seal that didn't allow him to use earth techniques (like the one that Keena placed on him before); and Pedro had to remove them using the seal breaker. He practiced both ways: using the rinnegan, which erased all the seals at once, and taking them out one by one, without the rinnegan. For the second method, Hagaromo had to teach him how to do some of the elemental sealing techniques that blocked the use of those types of jutsus. He learned the seals used to stop earth, fire, water, and lighting-based techniques from being used. Then, he used them together with the seal breaker to remove them, without using the rinnegan. He also removed seals from Hagaromo and from a couple of weapons. Therefore, he learned how to erase chakra seals that had been placed on other people and on objects as well.

They took one entire week for this practice, but by the end of it, Pedro Namikaze knew it well.

After the seal breaker, Hagaromo taught him how to do the transfer of the rinnegan without touching the other person's eye and without using any transfer seals.

"Now, you must learn how to transfer the rinnegan to someone else and how to convert it to pure natural chakra, which you may transfer to others as well, or use it as your own. You won't be able to practice doing this completely, but you must know it regardless. This is what you must do if you find defeat at the hands of one of them. My rinnegan must not fall in their hands. And such a possibility has to be stopped at any cost. You have to transfer it to one of the other saviors or convert it to chakra, if you recognize that it can be taken away from you. The entire transfer depends on you, but you will need one thing from the other person: he or she must be looking straight at the rinnegan when this is done."

Hagaromo looked very serious when he said that. It made Pedro Namikaze feel as if he knew that this transfer or conversion of the rinnegan would happen for sure.

"Hagaromo, is this going to happen? Will I be defeated by the Snake King or by one of the guardians? Is that why you are teaching me this?"

Hagaromo closed his eyes for a couple of seconds and opened them again.

"No. Even I don't know what is going to happen for sure. My visions are possible futures and they are not set on stone, until they happen. What I do know is that you must be ready for anything. Even for defeat itself. It is almost certain that some of the saviors will be defeated by the Snake King, but that doesn't mean we lose. The others can still defeat him. And the power of my rinnegan must remain in our side. You must make sure about that. This is why I am teaching you how to transfer it. And, if you can't pass it to anyone, you'll know how to convert it into sage chakra, so it will make a difference.

I hope you don't have to use this, but I need to consider all the possibilities. You know very well that if you are defeated, you will most likely die. You wouldn't see the previous Leaf or Mina Hatake again. I'm sure that you won't let it get to that though. Your clever instincts and Maida's sharingan will help you to pick the best path. I believe in your ability to choose right, and I know what her sharingan can do. That is why I trust you to be the carrier of my rinnegan. I know that you can help the others to make it happen."

The Hagaromo from now didn't inspire doubts or a lack of trust, like he did when Pedro didn't know anything about him. Now, he made you feel that his plan was going to work. At this point in time, Pedro Namikaze trusted the holy sage more than ever before, so he didn't question his choices for his training anymore. He believed that they had a purpose; and he was right…

In three days, Pedro got the hang of how "the transfer" and "the conversion" were done for the rinnegan. Both worked exactly the same way, but the transfer was done via someone else's chakra system and the conversion was done with his own.

(Think of their "chakra system and pathways" as another anatomy structure, such as our nervous system and its paths within the body. However, this system was for "chakra" only.

In "Naruto's solar system," all the humans and all the users of chakra techniques had this chakra system in the body. The "eight inner gates" of chakra were part of this system for the humans only—and they were used for their sage mode. They were located at the vital points in the body. For example, the final gate, known as "the eight gate of death," was in the section of the chakra system that went straight through the heart.)

Obviously, Pedro couldn't practice doing a "full transfer" of the rinnegan, nor a full conversion of it into chakra, but he could transfer and convert just a little bit of it, with Hagaromo's guidance. That way, it was clear that he could do it. And the amount he used was negligible, so it wasn't going to affect anything. An actual full transfer would have resulted in the other person gaining a rinnegan. A full conversion would result in the rinnegan's loss for the carrier. However, he or she would gain a monstrous amount of sage chakra in exchange, and all of it could be used right away, as if it had been gathered through normal means.

At that point, there was just one technique left for Pedro Namikaze to learn. Hagaromo knew how crucial this one was, so he left it for the very end.

"You will leave in just six days, but there is still one technique that you need to know. The holy sealing jutsu will be necessary in the battle against the Snake King. I know this because I have seen him summoning undead warriors against me before. The summoned ninjas have the same souls, the physical appearance, and the abilities of ninjas from the past, but they will obey him, even if they were heroes of justice before. Even if they recognize you, they will still be his fighting puppets. So you will have to stop them, even if they are people that you recognize from your own past.

The undead summons are powerful foes because they don't get physical injuries like ours and they don't feel pain. Also, their destroyed body parts grow back in a matter of minutes. It may look like you have killed them, but they regenerate again and again.

Sealing them is the only way to defeat them. And sealing them with the holy sealing jutsu is the only way to ensure that their souls will never be summoned again. Even if it is attempted again, it won't work. This is why you need to know it. It's the only way to defeat them and to ensure that they will rest in peace forever after."

Pedro began to think about it and a particularly chilling thought struck him, like a lighting blade:

What would he do if he had to fight someone like his grandfather? The old man was the former leader of the extinct Namikaze Clan, and he surely could open five, or even six, chakra gates—he was the one that taught him how to do that. However, that wasn't what worried him. It was his beloved grandfather! The idea of having to fight him was something that he didn't want to imagine. It was a true nightmare scenario…

"Hagaromo, is it possible that I would have to fight against one of my ancestors because of that technique?"

Pedro sounded concerned about the matter, even with all the power he had gained in training.

(* In the Naruto anime series and the manga, the technique for the dark resurrection is called Edo Tensei; in this story, it is known as the unholy resurrection jutsu.)

Hagaromo answered his question:

"The unholy resurrection jutsu is a cursed technique that wasn't created by me. You can expect anything from someone who uses it, so you have to be prepared for everything.

All I know is how to stop it. I also know that the user needs to have something from the body of the dead person that they summon into a new undead body. Therefore, it won't work with people from the distant past, since their whole bodies would be long gone, turned into dust.

You shouldn't worry too much about this. Just ensure that you learn the technique that can stop it, in case it happens. The Snake King doesn't know you, but I have realized that he knows some of the other saviors. Thus, it is important that some of you can seal an undead summon, in case it is used against any of you.

You are going to have to learn this in less than four days, so let's get started."

The unholy resurrection technique was created more than a century later, but even then it didn't work well. It was Orochimaru—not as a kid, but as an adult—who finally completed the seal that made it work as expected. And he was also the first one that used it successfully…

Since even Hagaromo didn't know this technique, he could only do one thing: he ensured that Pedro Namikaze knew an effective way to defeat an opponent that was created with the unholy resurrection jutsu…

Pedro memorized the new chakra seal and learned how to do the holy sealing in just two days. However, Hagaromo made him spend the third day practicing it. He practiced it on sand bodies and objects, which could not be compared to the real thing, even remotely, but it was still useful as practice. Hagaromo knew how important this technique would be, so he did what he could with the time he had left to ensure that Pedro would be able to use it with certainty.

At the end of the day, when Pedro was about to leave the arena, Hagaromo told him something that he didn't expect:

"Pedro Namikaze, your training has reached its end. You have learned everything you need to help the other saviors.

Tomorrow, I want you to rest. You have already done what you can do here, in my time. Now, there is something very important that I still need to do. I want you to know about it so that you can describe it, as it really happened, in the last entry of the notebook I gave you. It will happen tomorrow, so I want you to spend the entire day watching what I am going to do in the arena. The day after tomorrow, I will give you a brief final test. Then, the day after that, you will leave and return to The Leaf."

Pedro wasn't expecting such a sudden end after many weeks of training daily. However, he was more concerned about something else: why was Hagaromo in such a hurry to end it? Was it really that important for him to leave in three days? If that was the case, then what was the reason for it? He had to know and he trusted the holy sage, so he asked without hesitation:

"Hagaromo, why are you so concerned about finishing quickly? Is there a good reason why I must leave in three days from now?"

Hagaromo held his holy staff and talked with calm and certainty:

"There is a good reason for everything Pedro Namikaze. Such is life when you can see the possible futures, like I can. You have to leave in three days without fail; otherwise, my plan will not work because you didn't leave at the right time. Good timing is critical. You arrive one minute later and it may be too late; you arrive one minute too early and your arrival won't catch everyone by surprise, as it should.

Luckily, you won't need to worry about it now because my timing will work for you while you are here."

Hagaromo was great at giving amazing answers that left people satisfied—without giving the real answer to the question. However, Pedro Namikaze was naturally curious and he noticed everything, even if he didn't suspect anything negative from Hagaromo.

The idea of "taking a day off" before he left in three days was out of place: it wasn't what you would expect from someone like the holy sage—who began trainings enthusiastically, at 4 a.m. on Saturday mornings…

Clearly, the reason behind Hagaromo's choice had to be very important. And, once again, Pedro Namikaze didn't hesitate about asking:

"What are you going to do tomorrow Hagaromo? You never took a day off from training in three months, so it must be very important."

"You'll see tomorrow Pedro. And yes, it is as important as your entire three-months training, but it is something that I must do alone. I just want you to watch so that you can tell the truth about it, in the future.

Now, you should rest and clear your mind. Enjoy the beauty of this grand training arena while you are still here."

The next morning, Pedro saw how Hagaromo was preparing a series of gigantic-looking circles and seals on the ground. They covered almost the entire arena. Whatever he was planning had to be something huge.

"It's good to see you are awake Pedro Namikaze. If it had been a day of training, I would have had to wake you up myself."

Wasn't this supposed to be a day off? (Pedro entered the arena at 6 a.m.)

Anyways… after the "imaginary bucket of water" for the day off fell on him, Pedro said the same morning greeting he always said and he offered his help:

"Good morning Hagaromo. Can I help you with anything for what you are doing?"

Hagaromo was a little grumpy that morning, but it made sense, especially if you knew the great sacrifice that he was about to make.

"Yes, please don't step on any of the seals on the arena. Also, I want you to spend the whole day watching what I am doing from the same seat that Ashura used to watch us before."

"Are you sure about that? That seat is pretty far. It's on the other side and all the way at the top. I won't be able to see every detail from there Hagaromo."

"Don't worry about minor details Pedro Namikaze. You will be able to see everything that matters from there. Besides, I don't know if this will get dangerous, so you shouldn't be too close. And do not interfere with anything, no matter what happens. Just watch from there."

Pedro was starting to feel intrigued. Hagaromo was almost giving him orders, so he didn't question him. He simply went to Ashura's seat, at the other side of the coliseum, and he stayed there.

It was a pretty boring wait, until the night arrived.

Hagaromo spent the whole day preparing the giant seals and, perhaps, thinking as well. Pedro Namikaze left the seat after six hours—his butt was hurting already. He ate something and he came back. He was consumed by boredom after seeing the repetition of the same thing for seven hours straight, but he stayed there and continued watching every minute—as Hagaromo wanted.

Eventually, the holy sage began the decisive ritual, when the night arrived at the arena. He stood up at the very center of all the great circles on the ground. Then, he opened his white cloak and his white shirt, revealing a large and really complex seal that covered his stomach and his chest. It looked like a very large tattoo of an ancient hieroglyphic. It was the seal left by the sealing technique that he created to trap the Ten-Tails chakra beast.

"I used to fear the day this moment would come, because it meant that my end was near; but now that it has arrived, I know it; I know better than ever before that I have taken the right path. And I am glad because the moment to put my plan in motion is finally here. The time has come to free the Ten-Tails once again. This time it won't destroy and terrorize our world, like it did before, because it will be reborn as nine young beasts, instead of one rampaging monster. The nine tailed beasts will become the greatest chakra weapons on our side in the future, when my successor, Naruto Uzumaki, has to face him again. Now, I will make it all possible by splitting Ten-Tails into nine separate life forms and sending the nine chakra beasts to nine forgotten locations around the world. This is it… the time has come!

Six-Paths jutsu! Grand transfer seal!"

The giant circles and the nine grand seals that Hagaromo spent the whole day preparing lit up right away. The entire arena awakened in the night with the yellow chakra that lit up all the seals.

Pedro Namikaze felt the urge to get closer, but he didn't. He followed Hagaromo's request of not interfering and staying there, watching. Even though he was far, he could see it very well because the arena lit up as if it was the Sun itself who made it happen. However, he was too far to hear what the holy sage said there.

Hagaromo was at the center of the arena and at the center of the yellow chakra circles as well. The nine grand seals appeared on the outer circles, which were seven meters away from the center, where Hagaromo was.

Hagaromo began to levitate, close to two meters above the ground, and his holy staff also levitated beside him. He created nine small seals around his stomach and on his chest. They looked just like the nine giant seals on the arena's circles. After that, he knew that he had to be very fast; otherwise, the Ten-Tails had a chance to take over him, which could result in the same thing that happened to Kaguya. (She couldn't control it, so she became part of it when it took over her. Then, it was set free into the Human Realm. And, after years of fear and destruction, it was Hagaromo who managed to stop it with his sealing techniques.)

Without hesitating, the Sage of the Six Paths continued.

He placed another seal on his upper body to unlock the most powerful sealing technique that he had ever done—the one he used to trap the Ten-Tails' grand power within himself.

"Grand Six-Paths chakra key, unlock seal!

Six-Paths splitter jutsu!"

The chakra and the seal's marks on Hagaromo's stomach and on his chest began to disappear—a sign that the seal had been broken—and nine hands of chakra went from the nine small chakra circles on his body to the giant ones on the arena. He only had one forbidden technique left to do in order to finish the creation of the nine bijuus—the chakra beasts. However, the powerful Ten-Tails halted him; and both him and his staff fell down to the ground. Nonetheless, all the seals remained in place and everything was still ready.

"Even after all these years, you still want to give me a hard time Juubi. I guess you are used to being a part of me, but you were never my true partner. That… that will change with them!

Zeta-style jutsu! Seal of creation!"

A very bright light engulfed Hagaromo and made the arena look as if it was happening during the day, even though it happened at night. Pedro Namikaze got up and started to get worried. That thing looked similar to the finishing technique of "light" that the man of the black cloak used in the visions. He didn't expect to see something like that from Hagaromo. It felt like something had gone wrong. However, the light began to fade and everything became more visible again. Nonetheless, Pedro Namikaze entered sage mode and stayed standing and alert, just in case Hagaromo needed his help.

What Pedro saw next left him speechless.

The nine chakra hands that were coming from Hagaromo were touching nine huge beings that were sitting around the grand circle at the center, surrounding him. The "beings" looked like giant animals, but they were not animals like the ones at Earth, they just resembled them closely. Animals that huge didn't exist at the Human Realm…

A better look by Pedro Namikaze revealed that the animals seemed very young, despite their huge size. They were toddlers of their species! It was then that Pedro noticed that they all had big tails; and the number of tails was different for each one of the nine. One had one tail; the other had two tails; and so on, until the last one of the nine, which had nine tails. Pedro Namikaze knew what his eyes were seeing as soon as he noticed that pattern.

"The nine tailed beasts!? I mean the bijuus… I mean they are… the nine freaking chakra beasts! Is he crazy?!"

Pedro felt his adrenaline levels rising, even with sage mode and a rinnegan on his side. He had heard even more tales about the great chakra beasts than about the Sage of the Six Paths. And they definitely weren't pretty bed-time stories with princesses. They were tales of power, horror, and destruction! The adult tailed beasts from his time were much weaker than the original Ten-Tails—also named "Juubi"—but, they had enough power to destroy cities and large land structures completely. They were the equivalent of living atomic bombs. And the Nine-Tails fox, in particular, had so much chakra that no one had ever been able to get a measure of it.

(The Nine-Tails fox was the one that was sealed into Naruto Uzumaki in the future. That was one of the reasons why Naruto, like Hagaromo, could make hundreds of shadow clones.)

Pedro's reaction was to leave his seat. He wanted to go there to ensure that Hagaromo was alright because the beasts were blocking his view. However, he stopped when he remembered Hagaromo's clear words. He only wanted him to watch from that location, no matter what. And he understood why pretty fast…

Pedro Namikaze was the only one who could really describe how the tailed beasts were born. He was the only one there that day. Maybe, Hagaromo wanted to make sure that someone else was going to know about what happened there. Pedro began to think that that was why Hagaromo gave him the second notebook—so that he could describe all these events. And he was partially right. However, with the holy sage, everything had a much higher purpose, even that second notebook…

Hagaromo's holy ritual ended, but the chakra circles remained lit up and the nine "baby" beasts began to awaken. He was the first thing that all nine of them saw when they opened their eyes to the world for the first time. Thus, for the tailed beasts, the holy sage was the equivalent of a parental figure—like a father. They could also understand his human speech because, as the Ten-Tails, they spent many years living with Hagaromo and seeing his world on a daily basis.

Hagaromo stood up, somewhat beaten up and feeling a little weak, but with a smile of victory and happiness on his face. It was time…

"Shukaku, Matatabi, Isopu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chounei, Gyuuki, and Kurama. These will be your names. Now listen well.

I will not live long anymore. I will have to send you all to far lands, so that you can fulfill your destinies on your own. However, never fear, even in your darkest days.

Everyone of you has a name, and you have a form different from before; and differently from when you were inside me, you can follow a rightful path—a path that deviates from your dark origins.

Remember that even if you are separated now, you will always be together, and the day when you will return to be one will come. And that day, you will help to save this world in which you were born. Until then, search for your true strength… and until that day comes, follow your own path. I will die soon, but I will always be with you.

Remain strong until my successor reunites all of you and shows you what the meaning of true strength is."

The tailed beasts listened to everything attentively, as if they were little pets. They also understood him very well because they seemed sad after they heard that he would not live much longer. It really looked like his words had touched them.

Unfortunately, Pedro Namikaze couldn't hear Hagaromo's words, he only saw what happened there. (And that was what Hagaromo intended.)

Then, the holy sage sent the nine tailed beasts to nine remote locations around the world, where they would grow and continue their lives—until humans, wars, and battles for power among the ninja clans of the future reached them.

"May your journey towards that future day teach you much. Trust your instincts and never forget what happened here. I wish you all good luck.

Six-Paths teleportation jutsu! Activate seal!"

Hagaromo did something that made the large chakra circles lit up even more than before. Once again, the light got pretty bright. And when it came back to normal, the young chakra beasts were not there anymore.

Hagaromo had to use his staff to stay standing. He was going to need several hours and a long rest to recover from what he did. He didn't have the power of the Ten-Tails beast anymore. Now, he "just" had a rinnegan, the ability to use all types of elemental techniques, and all his knowledge. He couldn't levitate or halt entire battlefields with a single use of the Ten-Tails' power anymore…

Pedro Namikaze didn't wait anymore when he saw Hagaromo's state. He rushed to his location and helped him to walk to one of the beds, all the way at the other side of the coliseum. It worried him because he had never seen Hagaromo in that weak condition. Now, the holy sage truly looked more human than ever…

However, Hagaromo seemed happy. There were only two days left and everything was working exactly as he had planned it. His visions were becoming a reality, just like Pedro's visions.

When he was on the bed, he said something:

"Pedro Namikaze, your final test will be tomorrow, after a certain someone returns. Please, don't talk to him about what I did today."

"Don't worry about that now Hagaromo," said Pedro, as he left—after he ensured that the holy sage was resting well. He was going to write that day's entry in the second diary. (And what an epic entry it would be… he was about to tell one of the legends of his time, as it really happened.)

Hagaromo left him thinking though.

A certain someone? Could he mean Ashura?

It had been more than one month since Ashura left, so his return didn't feel like a sure thing in the slightest. Pedro quickly forgot about it and he continued his other task, before he went to sleep.

The next day, a splash of water fell on Pedro Namikaze's head at 4 o'clock in the morning. He couldn't believe it! Even after what happened the day before, the old man was up and running at four! (goodness gracious!) What was he made of?!

"Good morning Pedro Namikaze. I am glad to see that you are still here. I think I own you an apology too. The way I left that day wasn't the right way to handle the situation. Where is my father?"

The voice was Ashura's, and the water was a real bucket of water, not a water-style technique.

"Are you freaking kidding me!? Is this the way you people wake each other up at the Otsutsuki Clan!? You own me two apologies now! Oh well… nevermind… Hagaromo is over there…"

That was Pedro's automatic reaction. However, after he actually woke up and began to think, he was quite surprised. Hagaromo Otsutsuki could see the future for real! This was a proof. Ashura's return seemed extremely unlikely, but Hagaromo always knew about it. This was why he didn't seem hurt or concerned at all when Ashura left that day. He already knew that his son would return…

Ashura apologized to Hagaromo:

"I am sorry about the bad attitude I had when I left. I will support your decisions from now on, even if I don't think they are ideal. In the long-run, you have proven that they are always in the right track. I am willing to help you here if you still need me. I am sorry for what I did back then."

"It's ok son. You came back at the right time. Pedro Namikaze will leave tomorrow, so today I want to give him one final test. Will you help me with that again?"

"Of course I will. That's what I am here for. If today is his last day, then I'm glad that I came back for an action-packed farewell."

Pedro's "final test" was another battle with Ashura, in the open desert outside of the coliseum, just like the last one. This time Hagaromo wanted him to use the rinnegan only.

Just like last time, Hagaromo watched them from a safe spot. However, this time he did it from the ground, since he couldn't levitate anymore. He had lost the chakra beast's power, and with it the ability to do several things that were beyond natural human reach…

The third and last battle with Ashura was a true surprise for anyone that had seen the first two. It revealed a major weakness of Ashura's mighty chakra mode…

Pedro Namikaze began the battle with the rinnegan's earth-based power:

"Rinne-earth, planetary devastation!"

Ashura avoided and destroyed the incoming blocks of sand masterfully, using his multiple swords of chakra and his own speed. However, he already knew how that technique worked: the blocks of earth would continue coming nonstop. There was no end to it, unless he stopped the one using it. Therefore, he focused on reaching Pedro Namikaze. And when he was close enough, he unleashed his full cloak of chakra and created ten shadow clones.

The clones and Ashura coordinated a massive attack as a team. They were ready to fall on Pedro with dozens of chakra blades from all directions. There was no way to avoid such a thing and Pedro Namikaze would be defeated there—or so they thought.

"Rinne-shield!"

All the swords landed on the spherical shield created by the rinnegan's chakra. And the onslaught of chakra blades only made a little crack on it! (Clearly, the rinnegan's chakra was more powerful than Ashura's yellow chakra.)

Pedro Namikaze didn't give them time to recover either. As soon as all the swords were blocked, he removed the shield and uncovered Ashura's weakness:

"Multi-Rinne-slash!"

He unleashed four giant red chakra slashes in a row with the rinnegan. They appeared out of nowhere, like Ashura's great blade of wind did, during their first battle. The first three slashes destroyed every single one of the ten clones. Direct contact with them was all it took, since shadow clones were too weak to resist such a high-level attack, even though they could use all the powerful techniques that their original creator had. The fourth rinne-slash caught Ashura by surprise and it hit him directly—he had no chance to avoid it. The rinne-slash broke all of Ashura's defenses and sent him flying at least twenty meters away. Unlike many other attacks, this one cut through his entire chakra cloak and it reached part of his body. This meant that he didn't have any way to block this attack and it could penetrate a chakra armor too.

When Ashura landed on the sand, he only took two seconds to jump and get back on his feet. However, he didn't feel right. He touched the side of his body that the end of the rinne-slash reached, and when he looked back at his hand, he saw blood on it. Things were much worse than he expected!

"Dawn! Just one month and he already knows my father's techniques! Even brother Indra can't do all of them, but he has no rinnegan either. Father was the only one that had it and now the earth sage has it too. I can't get too close to him then. In that case…"

Ashura brought back his yellow chakra cloak and twelve hands of chakra came out of it. The hands began to make large chakra shurikens—like Naruto's rasen-shurikens. Then, they launched four of them at Pedro Namikaze, one after the other.

Pedro simply stood there. He knew what he had learned very well, so he was confident about using it successfully.

Ashura started to get worried when he saw that he wasn't planning to dodge them.

"Don't tell me that he can do that too!"

Pedro's left eye—the rinnegan—demolished each shuriken and absorbed their chakra, when they got very close to him. They basically gave him more chakra and did nothing to him.

Ashura began to sweat. If most chakra-based attacks and all elemental jutsus could be blocked, and even absorbed, then long-range combat was not going to work. However, he could also catch him with the deadly rinne-slashes in close combat. How the hell was he going to beat him now!?

Ashura remembered that, because of all those unique powers, his father was the only one that he could not beat in a serious battle. The rinnegan and the Ten-Tails' omnipotent chakra were out of this world. Indra was also incredibly powerful, thanks to his mangekyou sharingan, but Ashura had been able to beat Indra twice before.

At that moment, Pedro created seven shadow clones and went after Ashura.

"Seven? So, even his limit for shadow clones has increased with the rinnegan."

Ashura's paradigm for fighting Pedro was changed from "this guy can't beat me" to "I need to be careful."

Ashura was never afraid, but he definitely wasn't a fool either. He had more than enough reasons to be concerned now.

The battle started to look funny from Hagaromo's view: it was Pedro and his clones chasing Ashura with rinne-slashes, and Ashura running away and avoiding them all the time. It was clear to Hagaromo that Pedro Namikaze was ready to help the other saviors now. He could handle a mighty opponent like Ashura.

Ashura stopped eventually.

"I shouldn't be thinking about using this in a training, but losing is not my style! I can beat him easily if I go into eagle sage mode and open seven of the eight chakra gates. I will not die at 88% of the human sage mode; and with such speed and power, he has no chance. I will be too fast, even for the rinne-slashes, and too powerful, even for a rinnegan. He will be finished in seconds, but… I will be finished too after that. I'll probably spend two months in a hospital. Maybe I shouldn't take such a risk…"

Someone grabbed Ashura's shoulder and almost made him jump on the spot—he thought he had been caught by a hidden shadow clone.

"Don't do that Ashura. You know that wouldn't be a wise choice. I already saw what I needed to see as well. This battle is over. And we are all winners because he is ready."

Pedro reached them just a few seconds later.

"The final test is over Pedro Namikaze. You have completed my training successfully.

However, the real test for all of us is about to begin. The time when you will have to use the techniques I taught you here is getting closer. Let's go back to the coliseum now. I will heal Ashura there.

Tomorrow, you will go back to The Leaf. Don't forget to gather all your belongings on time, including the other notebook I gave you."

"I won't Hagaromo. Thank you for everything!"

"Don't thank me; thank yourself because you put your heart and soul on the arena. Your desire to learn and improve was as great as my desire to prepare you for the future. Thank you for being a great student. Now that I know you well, I understand why you had to be one of them."

They went back to the coliseum walking and that surprised Ashura—who even had a wound that had to be healed.

"Why aren't you using your chakra platforms to take us back father?"

Hagaromo had no other choice but to lie. He couldn't tell Ashura that he had released the Ten-Tails as nine separate tailed beasts.

"Walking is good for you son. Even someone like me shouldn't be floating on chakra clouds all day. It's not good for you. Besides, I like to walk with my son and my student, instead of seeing you two from above all the time. Don't think that I enjoy being perceived as a living deity by many."

Ashura's wound wasn't that bad, so he didn't complain and they continued walking. He also liked his father's answer. You may even say that he was glad about it. However, Pedro Namikaze knew the truth: he didn't do it because he couldn't do it.

The rest of that final day was quite peaceful. Ashura was healed. Pedro gathered all his belongings and finished writing the last entry in the second diary. And Hagaromo reminded him about getting all his belongings like seven times...

Pedro wasn't stupid though. He knew that Hagaromo could see what would happen in the future, so every word that came out of his mouth had a purpose. Clearly, his belongings were absolutely necessary for some reason that he didn't know yet. The only thing that still felt a little odd was Hagaromo's hurry about his departure's date. Often, it made Pedro think that something important was going to happen that day. However, it could just be that the holy sage was picky about his training's strict schedule…

Finally, the morning of the last day there arrived.

Pedro almost fell out of his bed when he woke up at 5 a.m. He probably expected some water to fall on him at any second, but none did—thankfully. He prepared himself incredibly fast and grabbed the large summoning scroll he brought with him, Mina's dagger, his sword, and a large bag that had all his other belongings, including the two diaries, the small summoning scroll, and Hagaromo's book on ancient summoning seals. He was wearing the white clothes that all of them had used, since they began his trainings there. (The other end of the coliseum had places to sleep with beds, food, water, and tons of those white clean-looking ninja clothes for the trainings.)

Hagaromo was already outside—as usual—but it bugged Pedro to see that Ashura was still sleeping; so he prepared a "farewell splash" in a bucket for his sparring partner. Unfortunately, Ashura opened one eye before the splash:

"Hey, don't even think about it! I am not the trainee here Pedro Namikaze. And I have gotten my fair share of those! Besides, father made it very clear to me yesterday. You have to leave at 9:36 a.m. today, not earlier and not later, so feel free to rest more if you wish. It's the end of your time here man, and you did amazingly well. Not to mention that you are leaving with one of the rinnegans of the Sage of the Six Paths. You are going to be quite something in your time for sure. Relax a little for God's sake! No one will be testing you today, and no water is going to fall on your head or mine!"

Pedro Namikaze went back to his room. Now, he was really certain that something was amiss.

"9:36? Why would Hagaromo pick such an exact time? What is going to happen at that time?

There has to be a good reason for it. No… knowing him, there has always been a reason for it, even before I arrived here…"

It really seemed strange because Pedro could pick when he would arrive at the second location, before making the time jump. Therefore, the exact departure time from the first location was not important at all for the time of arrival at the second place. When he left the Earth Realm and the young Leaf, the first location was not what determined the time of arrival at the destination. Maida's mangekyou sharingan was what had determined that before…

At 9:00 a.m. both Pedro and Ashura meet up with Hagaromo at the arena. Hagaromo was looking at the solar clock, which was on one of the coliseum's walls at the other edge of the arena. He wanted to ensure that his timing was right.

"Hagaromo, why is the exact time so important?"

Pedro Namikaze could smell that something important was being hid from him.

"I want your departure to match exactly with what I saw in my vision at the Dark Realm. This is important Pedro Namikaze. Everything must match perfectly with what I saw. Otherwise, the future may be different.

By the way, it's time for you to know that in order to make a jump to the future, you needed a rinnegan. This is another reason why I had to give you one of mine. You will use Maida's mangekyou sharingan and the rinnegan together. The process is the same, but in order to look forward in time, instead of backwards, the rinnegan's vision is the one you will use. You already have the ability to make the jump, but my rinnegan will make it possible for you to use it with the future view. This time, you will also use the rinnegan's chakra to create my teleportation summoning seal."

It seemed strange that Hagaromo left something that important for the very end, but, as always, it also seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing and why. Therefore, Pedro decided that he would trust Hagaromo's visions and his great plan to save the future. It made no sense to doubt him anymore…

The time to leave again had arrived. For a few seconds, Pedro wished that he had one more day there, but this was it.

"How can I thank both of you for all the things that you have taught me during the last three months?"

Pedro's voice and his words showed true appreciation for what happened there.

Ashura smiled.

"There is no need to thank us Pedro Namikaze. You are one of the saviors and you did a very good job too. To be honest, I would have hated it if someone else had gotten my father's rinnegan and the close opportunity to win against me. However, seeing that it was you, the same guy that couldn't beat me three months ago, has humbled me. I truly hope that you fulfill my father's plan for the future and I wish good luck for you and the other saviors."

Ashura showed more emotion at that moment than during the entire three months. He was difficult to deal with and quite powerful, but he was also good at heart.

Hagaromo gave Pedro a short but meaningful reply:

"You can thank me when you fulfill your destiny Pedro Namikaze."

Hagaromo tried to smile, being optimistic, even though knowing what was coming made that smile extremely difficult for him.

Pedro began to create the teleportation seal using the rinnegan's natural chakra, instead of his own. He was planning to make the forward jump to "the future Leaf" where Naruto Uzumaki was Hokage. Thus, he would try to make his arrival point at Konoha's entrance and at a time between 16 and 20 years after his first departure from The Leaf, which was the approximate time that he had seen in Hagaromo's vision—where he saw Sasuke and Naruto's battles against the man of the black cloak and the guardians.

Hagaromo approached Pedro and placed some sort of seal on his rinnegan with his right hand.

"This will help you to locate the right time Pedro Namikaze."

Then, Hagaromo used a high-level technique to create a protective barrier:

"Six-Paths barrier jutsu!"

Four rectangular walls of chakra were raised around Pedro Namikaze, and a fifth one appeared above his head, making a perfect box-like barrier. Then, the barrier's walls turned transparent, so Pedro could still see everything clearly.

"I don't know how things will go with absolute certainty. This is the first time that you will do the jump to the future. And (Hagaromo looked at the solar clock) the time is now, so, to be safe, you should be protected by this barrier. You will be leaving in just a few minutes."

It didn't make much sense to Ashura. Why would his father put a protective barrier around him when he was about to leave?

Pedro didn't mind about it though. He just continued finishing the summoning teleportation seal with the rinnegan.

However, when he began to use the mangekyou sharingan and the rinnegan to move time forward through his view of The Leaf in the seal, he was halted abruptly. The small seal that Hagaromo placed on his left rinnegan eye was activated as soon as it reached a specific time in The Leaf's future. And this "future time" was still two decades before the year when Mina gave birth to their child, the future Fourth Hokage. It was still in the past!

(At the young Leaf, his friend Hiruzen and Mina were starting to lose hope about his return from "the holy sage's mission." Hiruzen was starting to raise in fame around the country as the great Third Hokage from The Leaf. And Mina had a cute blonde baby that she named Minato, just like Pedro had suggested…

A whole year went by for them, even though only three months passed for Pedro. His jump to the distant past had consumed nine months from his life…)

He tried to continue moving time forward, but the location that he could choose remained stuck at that point in time. He could not change it. The only step left to finish it was just summoning or teleporting himself there, but he didn't do it. He touched the barrier around him, without breaking the teleportation seal. Hagaromo had to know the reason why this was happening. And indeed, he knew…

When Pedro touched the barrier, he realized that it was the most powerful chakra-based barrier that he had ever felt. It was even stronger than the rinnegan's shield! He could not escape from that transparent cage. He was trapped there and the only way out was finishing the teleportation summoning, which would take him to the wrong time. Why? Why was this happening!?

"Hagaromo, why are you doing this? Why are you forcing me to leave to this wrong time period? This is not where the Snake King will attack in the future! Why didn't you tell me about this? This barrier… this is not meant to protect me; it's here to stop me. I thought that you trusted me and I had trust for you! Will you ever tell me the truth?!"

Hagaromo looked like he was getting ready for some major event that would happen there. He looked at the solar clock once more and it showed 9:35 a.m.—just one minute before "it" began. Then, he replied to Pedro:

"I am sorry that it had to be like this Pedro Namikaze… I do trust you and I know that by now you didn't doubt me anymore. That is why I had to ensure that you would be forced to leave, no matter what happened. Otherwise, you would have chosen to stay here and the plan would have failed; the future would have fallen under his rule because of your choice now.

I can't tell you everything because it would break my plan and the future's only hope would vanish. You will know it all eventually. However, before I face him for the last time, I will tell you the truth of my sins—a truth that has been a heavy burden for me, even if it was the only way to save our realm.

After I tell you, you will leave us. If you want to save Naruto, Sasuke, the future of The Leaf, and all the people in it, then leaving soon is the only choice that you have."

The sand clock pointed at the equivalent time to our 9:36 a.m. and everything began to change. The air at the coliseum started to carry a chilling sensation and the wind began to flow much faster. Then, a giant violet portal began to appear at the other edge of the coliseum. It destroyed everything on its path, including the large solar clock, the seats, and the place where Pedro had slept during the last three months. As its oval shape grew in size that entire portion of the coliseum was destroyed. It was immense, as large as twelve meters in height and five meters in width; and it looked like it wasn't completely done with its expansion yet.

The worst part was that the giant portal looked exactly like the one that was summoned by Naruto Uzumaki—in Hagaromo's vision—after the man of the black cloak and his three guardians defeated him.

The young Ashura began to feel the great danger that was approaching. The giant portal and its creator had to be very powerful if it could spread such a sensation of danger and despair around it. It was like a living black omen. However, Ashura (unlike Pedro Namikaze) had no idea about who was behind it.

"Father! What the hell is going on here!? What is the meaning of that thing!? What is happening!?"

Hagaromo was serious, but it was clear that he was ready for what was coming. The look of valor on his face was unshakable.

"Your past wish is going to come true Ashura. We are going to fight against the Snake King. This is the day, the time, and the exact place where he will get a second chance to take over the Human Realm. And we must stop him. My successor, the other saviors, and Pedro Namikaze are the ones who will have to stop him in the future. We have to stop him now."

For a couple of seconds there, the young Ashura didn't look as brave as he did when he suggested that they should have taken a fight to the Snake King at his own realm. However, he quickly shook off the fear and his mind changed, ready for a major battle. The threat's size didn't matter to him. Losing was not an option. Ashura unleashed his yellow chakra cloak and, from Pedro Namikaze's view, he looked just like Naruto Uzumaki in the Nine-Tails' chakra mode—which also created that same chakra cloak on Naruto.

Pedro Namikaze was supremely worried about the situation they had there. He began to understand why the coliseum had no traces of its existence in the future that had been his present before.

"Hagaromo, you can't do this! You can't defeat him as you are now! Let me out of here! Let me fight with you two!"

Pedro Namikaze was starting to feel desperate.

Ashura rushed towards the grand violet portal, thinking that he would be able to destroy it with a grand sword of his yellow chakra.

Hagaromo was standing close to the barrier around Pedro. He knew that this was going to be the last time he would see Pedro, so the holy sage made his decision:

Before his last battle began, he was going to tell him the truth…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Hagaromo's Truth


	47. Chapter 47: Hagaromo's Truth

**CHAPTER 47: Hagaromo's Truth**

Hagaromo was standing sideways in front of the special barrier that he created. It would ensure that Pedro Namikaze would not be able to alter anything about his plan during his last minutes there. He looked at Pedro with his left eye, which was now a normal green eye that could reveal how he truly felt—unlike the rinnegan. He was firm, but sad at the same time.

"Pedro Namikaze, before you leave, I will tell you a truth that I want you to know, about me and about you.

The truth is that I am not as holy and as gracious as the legends of your future told you. I used many people's lives in order to save everyone. As the protector of this realm, I made sacrifices that affected many good people and those closest to them. I had a choice, but I chose to take that path anyways. And because of that, the ones closest to me had a more difficult life, and those I picked suffered as well, even though they never had the chance to choose. Their families had a harder fate too, even though they were good people that didn't deserve it. I knew about all of it, but I continued anyways, because it was the only chance I had to save this realm.

I am very sorry for what I did to all of you. And I will gladly pay the price for it. Now that I know you well, I can feel the weight of what I did to you and to your loved ones much more than before.

You are one of my chosen saviors and, because of it, your life took a much more difficult path than the one it had by default. Forgive me Pedro Namikaze."

Although Hagaromo was firm about completing his plan for the future, the consequences of all the changes he made had affected his life. There was no doubt about it.

However, Pedro didn't think that any forgiveness was necessary. For a moment, he forgot about the imminent threat of the Snake King, and his desperation was eclipsed by his self-assuredness about his past actions. (He knew himself well! No one made the hard choices for him.)

"Hagaromo, you must be mistaken. There is no need for my forgiveness. I am here because I chose it. I was the one that chose to believe in you and in your plan. No one forced me to do it, and I am sure that it was the same way for all the others that joined your cause. We believed in you."

Hagaromo looked thoughtful for a few seconds. Then, he turned around and looked at Pedro with both of his eyes—the left rinnegan and the normal right eye. He was facing Pedro and looking directly at his eyes, instead of looking at the grand violet portal.

"What happened right before you decided to leave the Clan of the Stone to go to The Leaf? What made you take that leap of faith? And… who saved you after the attack at Maida Uchiha's village?"

Why was Hagaromo asking those questions? He was very serious about those two questions because he knew that their answers revealed the truth.

Pedro answered them. He really thought that he knew what happened back then…

"The day before I left, my former trainer, squad leader Maki, died. He came mortally wounded from a mission and I was the one who saw him first. He told me that I had a much brighter future than him ahead of me, but not at that clan. I knew that I wanted to leave the Clan of the Stone, even before that. I didn't want to spend my life as an Anbu ninja for them. My ideals never matched with theirs and I was ready to leave, even before that day. However, Maki's words were what finally made me decide that it was over. I prepared myself and deserted the next day, without looking back, and without telling anyone about it. My brother Golan never came back from his mission either, which meant that he was dead too. I didn't have anyone else that tied me to them and to their tyranny. Most of the people there were not good-hearted either. They were raised as assassins, so it was the norm. I left hoping to join the clan that was known for being the opposite of them. I also hoped to fight for good causes and not just for money and for their corrupt leaders.

That was years ago…

At Maida's village, I am sure that she saved me. I found her close to me and she had replaced one of my eyes with her mangekyou sharingan. I was unconscious, but I know that she must have cured me as well, before I woke up. The battle I had before that was one of my worst and I lost. It was the worst day of my life... And, in a different way, Hiruzen also saved me that day. He and his Anbu guards arrived there just when I needed them. Without their help, I could have died, unless I made it all the way to The Leaf on my own, but that was very unlikely."

Hagaromo took a very deep breath. It was time for the truth, which was hidden and unexpected.

"I see that you remember very well Pedro. What I am going to tell you shouldn't be a great shock to you then:

Maki Uchiha was a secret agent from The Leaf that infiltrated the Clan of the Stone. He had special sharingans, just like Maida, and he had met me before at the Dark Realm. Besides his mission for The Leaf, he also had a mission for my plan. He had to save Pedro Namikaze and his brother from the conflict that would destroy their small clan. He also had to become their first teacher and their squad's leader at the Clan of the Stone. He would look over them after that day.

As you already know, Maki accomplished his missions flawlessly.

I had told him that you needed to leave that clan to fulfill your destiny for the plan. And that was what led him to tell you those words before he died."

Pedro Namikaze started to look disconcerted. Could it be the truth? Everything fit perfectly, but it was a little hard to accept it right away.

"How is that possible? Master Maki didn't have the mangekyou sharingan. He didn't even have a sharingan!"

Hagaromo continued with the voice of truth:

"He had both of them, but he never used them in front of others. After his infiltration, he had his normal eyes on display at all times. Shortly after that, he saved you and your brother when you were intercepted by guards from the Stone, after you ran away from your village. That was why you two were not killed that day. And he could hide his secret well because the unique ability of his special sharingan was to disable other sharingans, including his own."

If Pedro looked a little disconcerted before, now he was at full disconcertion. And Hagaromo had not even told him about Maida yet. Pedro Namikaze couldn't have seen that coming, but that didn't change the fact that it was the truth too.

"Maki was a great agent and a great man that died because of me and my plan to save the future. However, he wasn't the most unique person that I met at the Dark Realm, and neither were you. The most unique owner of a special sharingan was Maida Uchiha. She was the only one that made it there on her own the very first time. I had to help everybody else to make their first trip to the special realm. She was also the only one that did it with the sharingan's initial form. Everybody else, including me, couldn't see the Dark Realm until they had a mangekyou sharingan or a rinnegan. Her ability for healing techniques was extraordinary too, and she didn't even have a mangekyou back then. If she had awakened the rinnegan, her healing power would have surpassed mine.

It was I who taught her many of the healing techniques she knew, including the most advanced one, which was the one she used to keep you alive that day. She, her mother, and her half-brother also decided to go live at Barton's village because of the advice I gave her, about leaving the Uchiha Clan. She convinced them afterwards.

I even told her about the day when she was going to meet the man that would show her the true meaning of love. And when she mentioned that she would be playing music in her piano that day, I recommended the only melody that would drive you towards her without fail. She already knew your name and what you looked like, before she met you. However, she never knew how it was going to end.

You already know the rest Pedro Namikaze. I saw it years before I put all the wheels in motion from the Dark Realm.

You also know that Hiruzen saved you that day because you told him about it when he was younger.

There were no coincidences.

And all of it will lead us to the final defeat of the Snake King. Even the bad consequences and the deaths that made me curse my power proved to be necessary to make it all happen."

Pedro wasn't looking at Hagaromo in the same way anymore. He looked perplexed. Many things that seemed natural in his life happened that way only because Hagaromo made them that way… What was he? A God?

"All those things—changing people's lives, altering the past and the future, and having control of a lost realm where time doesn't even exist. I don't think that any sharingan or any normal power is capable of such things. Hagaromo… are you human, or, are you something else?"

Pedro Namikaze wasn't afraid of Hagaromo and, despite the deep revelations, he still felt that he could trust him. However, he didn't know what to believe about him now.

Hagaromo was glad. Pedro Namikaze remained on his side no matter what; and his reaction—like everything else—was as he expected. Everything continued running according to the plan. Hagaromo showed a minor smile, even in the face of the upcoming catastrophe.

"I am human Pedro Namikaze. I feel as human as you and as all the other men and women that have been born at this realm. However, I am also different. I am one of the sons of Goddess Kaguya, who wasn't completely human at the time of my conception. I also became the jinchuuriki of the Ten-Tails beast when I was even younger than you. I had Ashura's age when it happened. And I was never the same after that.

I never lost my humanity, but my life changed after I gained the power of the holy yellow fruit of chakra. Mother Kaguya brought the yellow fruit to this world without knowing the disasters that it would cause. She used its power, which was what earned her the nickname of "the goddess." Then, the holy fruit gained a living form of its own, which was Ten-Tails. When I sealed it in me, I also sealed the power of the chakra fruit in me.

Just weeks after that, I shared its power with the people of my clan, giving them the ability to use chakra techniques. I also used its incredible power to stop an all-out war between our two closest clans. At the end of that day, I found myself at the Realm of the Fruit of Chakra for the first time. Back then, it was light yellow and very bright, but as I used the fruit's power, more and more, it began to get darker and darker, until now. The Dark Realm where you met me, and where most of the others met me, is the Realm of the Fruit of Chakra.

Since those times, I also began to see the future and I knew what was going to happen; so I began to act, since my youth, to change our final fate.

Having this great power and being Kaguya's son have been my life's curses, but if they lead to the salvation of this realm, I will be very glad at the end of it all."

Hagaromo was very sincere in his last talk with Pedro.

("The fruit" managed to gain a living form, known as Ten-Tails, at the Human Realm. Apparently, "it" was alive. Its power was also responsible for the creation of the timeless realm, which only the special eyes powered by its chakra could visit. This power was also what gave chakra and the ability to use chakra techniques to Hagaromo's people, which were the ancient ancestors of the future ninja clans. However, "it" proved to be more dangerous for the future than what Kaguya and Hagaromo had anticipated…)

Pedro Namikaze remembered that the Dark Realm had traces of a "dark yellow" color indeed. It made sense that its origin had been "bright and yellow."

And just when Pedro was about to ask where the fruit of chakra came from (a very interesting question, by the way), he saw the first one of "them" come out from the violet portal; and the menace of that portal became too real, as soon as he recognized that face…

While Hagaromo was talking to Pedro, Ashura tried to destroy the grand portal. He hit it at least three dozen times with his swords and with the hands of chakra, but they had no effect. It simply absorbed them. He stopped and began to think. There had to be a way to destroy it. And if not, then he would have to fight the Snake King and defeat him.

When Ashura was standing there, close to the right side of the portal, a human-looking being appeared from the bottom of the giant oval and jumped right in front of Ashura.

It was Zet Otsutsuki (White Zetsu), the same white green-haired sage with strange powers that defeated Pedro Namikaze with ease at Maida's village. He looked just as he did that day, which had been more than 120 years later.

When Ashura was about to move to attack him, he noticed that a bunch of odd white branches that came from the sand were holding his legs. (The branches were created by Zet. They looked just like the crazy growth of branches that Spiral—the white guardian—used in Hagaromo's vision, during that battle with the Seventh Hokage—where Spiral, Black, the man of the cloak, and even the white snake fought against Naruto.)

Zet moved quickly and he also grabbed Ashura's arms. When he did it, more branches began to hold Ashura. They began to make it very difficult for him to move, and they started to drain his chakra as well.

Zet grabbed Ashura's face:

"I waited for this day for a long time. The day when I would be an equal, or even more powerful than you, Indra, and him."

Ashura recognized who it was, even though he looked much different than before:

"Zet? What is the meaning of this!? Who changed you and gave you this power? Are you going to betray us and take the enemy's side!?"

Zet felt victorious already. He never imagined that overpowering Ashura could be so easy. However, he was too overconfident for his own good.

"I changed myself and I also gained this power on my own. Unlike you and Indra, who have your biggest powers because of him. No one gave me anything brother. And this is just the beginning. I shall surpass him too."

Ashura finally took him seriously. He realized that the branches had the potential to kill him if he didn't escape them soon. He unleashed his chakra cloak at its full power and the intense yellow chakra began to consume all the branches, like a wild fire. These were the same branches that had killed Pedro Namikaze and many others at Maida's village. However, Ashura's chakra could overpower them.

Zet began to look a little worried, since Ashura was getting away and he still wasn't 100% sure that he could defeat him at full power. However, Su Otsutsuki (Black Zetsu) jumped from the portal at that moment, and he landed right on top of Ashura.

As soon as Su touched Ashura, he began to cover the left side of Ashura's body. He was a fluid black mass that looked just like the "Black" guardian that fought against Naruto Uzumaki (in Hagaromo's vision of that alternate future).

Ashura destroyed the branches and he escaped from Zet, but Su's "body control" power was even greater than Zet's and Spiral's, so Ashura couldn't get away from it.

Su looked at Zet, from Ashura's left side and with his own yellow-looking eye.

"Stick to our plan Zet. You will have time for your personal wishes once today's battle is over. We need him now."

Zet didn't like the idea of obeying Su—meaning then that he wasn't the "real boss" behind their plan to defeat both, the Sage of the Six Paths and the Snake King. However, this was going to benefit him too, so he followed it and stayed there, waiting for the Snake King to arrive. He would have the chance to finish Ashura another day. Now, erasing the father that he hated and the powerful Snake King from his path was all that he needed to get closer to his final goal. However, Su—Hagaromo's second brother and Zet's uncle—also had his own agenda…

Ashura struggled to move. It worried him that Pedro Namikaze would leave and his father would be alone for this battle. However, his father had the Ten-Tails' power; so he would be able to defeat these two "pawns" easily. That was what Ashura believed… (He still didn't know that his father had released the Ten-Tails as nine separate chakra beasts.)

What really worried Ashura was the power of the one who created the giant violet portal. And the identity of "the black one" was also a source of concern, since he or "it" was powerful enough to hold him back. Ashura had lost control of at least 80% of his body. He could barely move, but he managed to ask him something:

"Who are you?"

And Su responded:

"Young Ashura Otsutsuki, my identity doesn't matter now. The only thing that matters is the upcoming battle where you will participate. We have to defeat him at all costs. And this may be our only chance."

At that moment, the white snake and Spiral appeared and jumped out from the other side of the portal, which wasn't facing anyone. Thus, no one noticed the exact moment when those two arrived.

However, guardian "Black" never arrived at the scene because of the events that happened before among Zet, Su, and the Snake King… (this will be covered in a later episode)

Pedro Namikaze began to feel the danger again when he saw what was happening to Ashura, right beneath the portal.

"Hagaromo, we have to help him! I know those two. I fought against them before! Just the white one by himself is quite powerful. We need to join Ashura now! Let me out of this barrier."

Hagaromo turned around and looked back at the portal.

"Don't worry about them. They won't hurt Ashura. However, this means that the time has come. He will arrive at any minute. The moment to complete the plan and to seal our fates is now.

This is the path that our realm will take. There will be no more changes and I won't affect more lives. I will pay for my sins as well. I hope that it leads to our future and final victory."

Hagaromo placed his holy staff at his side and he began to prepare some sort of technique, with chakra seals that required the use of both hands. In less than one minute, six flames of different colors appeared around him. They represented the "six paths" of natural chakra techniques that existed at the Human Realm (and that had been created by Kaguya, using the fruit of chakra). They were red for fire, blue for water, white for wind, yellow for lightning, brown for earth, and green for natural healing.

Pedro Namikaze had been telling him to set him free, but the holy sage wasn't listening and he only looked back at Pedro when he was done with the six flames.

"Listen well Pedro Namikaze. You must seek and choose the correct time for your return in the future. You must arrive at the right time before the Snake King returns once again. Choosing right will be critical. It will be the difference between our victory or our defeat, in the future.

And, no matter what, you must not come back to the past. The needed changes have been made already. You will ensure our failure if you come back; remember that. After you leave this place, look forward to the future only. It is the place where you still have to make a difference to finish the plan.

You also have 72 hours, after you leave here, to make the final time jump to the grand battle at the future. It will take place at The Leaf, outside of Konoha. Both Naruto and Sasuke will be there before you arrive. You'll have to figure out when is the right moment for your arrival, before the next 72 hours run out.

If you don't make it at the right time, or if you do it after the next three days, then the plan will fail; and the greatest clan of your ninja world will be the first one that will be destroyed by him."

"You mean The Leaf?!"

Hagaromo nodded as an indication of "yes."

However, even though Pedro loved The Leaf and what it represented, he still wasn't eager about leaving Hagaromo there, knowing what was about to happen… Not to mention that Hagaromo was barely telling him anything about what he had to do next. (He expected that Pedro would figure it out thanks to the "reliable vision" of Maida's sharingan.)

Pedro looked concerned. He understood the importance of the plan, but he still wanted to help Hagaromo. By now, Hagaromo and Ashura were his friends; they were not just trainers and sparring partners anymore.

"You can't beat the Snake King on your own and without your power. There is still a chance Hagaromo. We can do it together! Why does it have to be this way!?"

Hagaromo looked at Pedro again after he said that.

"Don't underestimate me Pedro Namikaze. Have faith in my plan and in me. It is the only way to win this battle, which is not a battle that can be won with pure power.

Remember that I was the one who figured out how to defeat Ten-Tails, the living embodiment of the power of chakra itself, before I even had the ability to see the future."

Right when Hagaromo finished talking, Pedro could hear something behind him. The sound came from the other side of the barrier.

It was the white snake and it was ready to attack. (This time it was for real.)

It jumped and attacked, from the opposite side of the barrier. However, it crashed heavily with the transparent wall that protected Pedro. It also broke its nose right there—that invisible wall was hard as hell.

Seeing it right in front of his feet brought Pedro back to the moment when he saw it for the first time, in his first set of visions. What happened here and the serpent's attack towards him was the same event that he had seen in that incomplete vision before. Every single one of them was becoming real. They were not simple visions anymore…

Pedro couldn't contain himself and, facing the opposite way of Hagaromo, he directed a rinne-slash at the white snake—which was still recovering from the broken nose. Unfortunately, the barrier blocked the heavy slash of red chakra completely, and part of it went back at Pedro. It left him with a wound that looked like the one he gave Ashura during their last battle. Luckily, the summoning seal and everything else was still intact; but now, even Pedro Namikaze wasn't in perfect shape for a battle.

Could things get any worse than this!?

When Pedro looked back at Hagaromo, the main danger finally showed itself. And there was no way to miss it. Instantly, Pedro noticed the four giant fingers on the right edge of the violet portal. They were human fingers, but they definitely looked bigger and tougher. Their skin was dark gray, unlike the skin of any human at Pedro Namikaze's world. And the fingers were still moving on the edge.

The Snake King was about to enter the Human Realm through the portal!

Without hesitation, Hagaromo used a jutsu that he had put in place half an hour ago:

"Seal of retention, release!"

Then, the summoning teleportation seal, in front of Pedro, and the teleportation technique were activated and they continued on their own, as if he had used them normally. Pedro Namikaze would be leaving in less than one minute, whether he liked it or not.

"Wait! Hagaromo, don't do this!"

The Sage of the Six Paths looked at Pedro Namikaze one last time, and revealed his final truth.

"Before you leave, there is something else that you need to know.

The Snake King is not a snake.

His true self is a human from the Zeta Realm, like me."

Hagaromo removed his legendary white cloak and allowed it to fall on the sand, at his side.

Then, he grabbed his holy staff.

All he had were his humble white training clothes (the same ones that everybody used before), the staff, the six flames, and his other rinnegan, which wasn't even at its full power, like the one he gave Pedro.

Pedro Namikaze started to disappear, but he could hear the last words that Hagaromo said to him, while he looked straight at the hand of their nemesis.

"Good bye my good friend Pedro Namikaze. Thank you for everything you did to achieve our victory."

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Otsutsukis versus The Snake King


	48. Chapter 48: Arrival of the Snake King

**CHAPTER 48: Arrival of the Snake King**

The white snake didn't get to see Pedro's eyes clearly. It just saw him fade away, while he was being protected by Hagaromo's barrier. The snake didn't recognize the one who escaped as a possible threat…

After Pedro Namikaze left, the powerful barrier disappeared and Hagaromo remained standing where he was. The white snake was just a few meters away from him, but he didn't pay any attention to it. He didn't even look back.

The white snake felt insulted by the holy sage's behavior. How could he be so confident, knowing that he was about to fight the all-powerful Snake King and the guardians? Besides, he looked as if the snake behind him posed zero threat to him. He didn't even bother looking back…

The white snake was careful at first because it understood that the six flames—of different colors—around the holy sage could be used to attack. However, it couldn't take seeing that this man was thinking of him as if he (the snake) was nothing. He wasn't a worm! He was a "mighty" white snake! He was once known as King Yuvol of the Realm of the Snakes—until the other bastard came and took over the entire realm.

Now, he was just a small white snake that could use chakra techniques. However, he still felt "big and mighty" and he definitely didn't think of himself as "the weakest guardian." After all, he was the one that could turn into the sword of "the master"—the Kusanagi sword—at will. The white snake was also pretty smart and sneaky, most of the time. Still, its intelligence really wasn't on its side at that moment…

The snake decided to attack Hagaromo, without knowing what to expect from him beforehand—which was what it liked to do most of the time. However, it was stopped before it could even move to attack! It couldn't even move its head. A group of Spiral's white branches came from the sand below and trapped it. They kept coming and grabbing the snake's body, until it couldn't move anymore. Then, they submerged it into the sand and pushed it all the way to where Spiral was, which wasn't close at all.

Spiral was standing at the bottom of the section with seats—where both Ashura and Pedro were sitting before. It was a perfect place to watch what was happening everywhere in the arena; and it was a safer spot as well. He wasn't sitting on the seats at higher ground though; he was standing at the bottom, on the sand itself.

When Spiral removed his hand from the ground, the branches that trapped the white snake came out of there, carrying their victim. The white snake looked all beaten up from being pushed through the sand underground. As soon as it saw the light, it opened its mouth and coughed out a lot of sand. And… it was seriously pissed!

"You idiot! What do you think you are doing!?"

The branches kept the white snake trapped and placed it on the ground. A new branch came and closed its mouth shut.

Then Spiral talked; and he definitely didn't sound like a fool now.

"I am doing the same thing that you always do Yuvol. I am going to sit back and watch the battles. This time I won't be in the middle of the battlefield. And I will hold you back, so that you can't help him either. I joined Zet and Su. I will help them with their plan. Zet gained the power to destroy me, so it is my best option now. Besides, I hate taking orders from a good-for-nothing king like you. And I don't like 'him' that much either. I will follow them and I will live at their Human Realm from now on."

The white snake still had the ability to talk, even though two-thirds of its mouth were closed shut by the last branch. It couldn't talk loud, but Spiral could hear him.

"You traitor! You may be his creation, but he will still destroy you without mercy. You are finished!"

Spiral walked towards Yuvol and a chair of white branches began to form, right below the snake. One of the new branches closed the open space of its mouth completely, so now it couldn't say anything else. Then, Spiral sat down on the seat with his butt right on top of the snake's head.

"That can happen only if he manages to defeat all of them. We will see who wins at the end. This time, I will be the one watching."

Spiral sounded like a true threat when he did this. This was his true self, which definitely wasn't the "dumb and childish" persona that he usually had on, during his time with his creator, and during the long time he had at the Human Realm with Zet and Su…

The Snake King placed both of his hands on the border of the violet portal, and he finally showed himself, once again…

Hagaromo had seen him before because he witnessed Goddess Kaguya's battle with him, during his first invasion to the Human Realm. That was the final battle in the clash between the Snake King's army of snakes and Kaguya's army of genetically modified human soldiers, which had very white skin and green hair, just like Zet (the reason for these physical features of the "Zetsu" army will be seen in a later episode that covers Kaguya's past)…

The Snake King came out from the giant portal and into the coliseum's grand arena.

At first, he had his left hand on the portal's right edge (from our view it was the portal's right side, but from his it was its left side). Then, he placed his right hand on the opposite edge and passed his left leg through the portal. His head and his body followed; and his other leg came out last. The view from the Realm of the Snakes (from where the gargantuan being came) wasn't visible from the portal at the coliseum, but the coliseum's view was visible for him from the other side. Therefore, the Snake King saw the coliseum before he even entered it; but, Hagaromo and the others didn't see him until he came out of the portal.

He was as tall as the giant portal itself. He had the shape and the general look of a human, but there were some major differences; so, even though this body looked similar to a human body, it definitely wasn't human.

He was giant and seemed pretty strong. He had two legs, two arms and hands, a body, and a face that looked similar to ours. However, his dark skin wasn't human skin. It looked much tougher, as if the tissue was made of the hardened shell of a crab, rather than of human flesh. It also had a dark grey color that made it seem very different.

He was wearing some sort of minimal body armor that didn't cover all his body. It looked like iron, or other tough material. It covered and protected his genital area, his knees, his shoulders, and only part of his body. The armor had an "X" shape that looked like a belt, which connected the piece around the hips to the two pieces on his shoulders. The "X" was on the front and on the back of his body. The one in the front had a diamond-shaped square that held the four parts of the armored X. Furthermore, the left side of the X was white, the right side was black, and the square that united it, at the center of his body, was yellow. And these three colors had a very important meaning that we are going to discover very soon…

The rest of his body was naked, but it was almost like armor too, since his skin was hard like a shell.

Nonetheless, the most striking features about the Snake King were not the armor, his large size, or even his body. They were his face, his hands, his feet, and the powerful voice he had. These were the features that showed that he was not human—at least, not in this body.

Although his hands and feet looked like ours and they had five fingers as well, they didn't have nails and they looked extremely solid and sharp. The tips of his fingers were closer to the nails of a T-rex dinosaur, even though they had no nails. The skin itself was the one that had that sharpness on the tip of his fingers. It was very likely that those fingers could cut and break through things, instead of just pushing them back.

At first, the Snake King's face was what caused the most impression for Ashura, who was the only one there that had never seen him yet. The dark king was completely bald and had no hair at all anywhere on his face. His ears were smaller than ours and they were protected by part of the skin; so, they were not outside in the open, like our ears. His nose was much smaller and more flat than ours, in proportion to his face. And his mouth was different than ours as well. The lips didn't touch each other and they didn't close the mouth completely. Thus, even with the mouth "closed," part of his teeth were still visible; and they were much closer to a dinosaur's teeth than to ours.

On his dark gray forehead, he had three diamond-like symbols that pointed at the very center of his forehead and at each other. They looked very similar to the sharingan eye's black commas, but they were not the same. These had different colors: the one at the top was yellow, like Ashura's chakra, and the other two below were white (the one on the left) and black (the one on the right). These white and black were the same colors of the two chakra-like swords that the man of the black cloak used in the battles of the visions, where he defeated Sasuke first, and Naruto—the Hokage—second. These "white" and "black" also matched with Black and Spiral, which were the most powerful guardians that the Snake King had. They were the ones that had created the sword of darkness, and the sword of light as well. (Clearly, all of them and these colors were connected in some way…)

The Snake King's eyes were like ours, but their pupils were deep and yellow, just like the eyes that Zet and Su Otsutsuki had. They were different and a little scary, perhaps, because you could not tell what he was thinking just from looking at those eyes. This was something in common with Hagaromo's rinnegan eyes, but, these didn't have that kind of power.

The eyes themselves were not the scary part for us, the viewers, though. The scary thing was that the skin around them was violet, rather than gray, and the pattern that this violet color followed was the same one that Kagami Uchiha showed, after he was "him." Obviously, that had not happened yet at that time, but Hagaromo was pretty smart, so he knew what it meant…

The powerful 12-meter-tall being that had been the protector of the Human Zeta Realm—the other human realm—and the guardian of the three holy fruits of power, was now standing there, after he left the portal completely. However, that holy guardian was not himself anymore. Now, it was the Snake King. Now, it was "him"…

The Snake King had a good idea of what to expect because the white snake, Yuvol, had been a spy at the second Human Realm for him (the second is Kaguya's realm, or the world where Pedro Namikaze and Naruto were born; the first is the Zeta Realm). He already knew that "the Sage of the Six Paths" would be his main target, since he was the owner of the third fruit of power and the only one that had a reasonable chance of beating him. The holy sage—like Kaguya—was the only clear obstacle to his conquest of the second Human Realm.

The Snake King had failed in the prior grand battle against Kaguya, but her victory against him wasn't final. And it showed him that the fruit of chakra and its host were powerful enough to stand against the other two holy fruits and their host—which was "him," of course. "He" had the power of the fruit of darkness and the power of the fruit of light…

(That was what the three yellow, white, and black symbols from the Snake King's forehead stood for. Each one represented the power from one of the three holy fruits, which had been used together to create the holy guardian. The ones that "he" could use at their fullest were light and darkness. He could use massive chakra techniques as well, but not at the same level as the host of the fruit of chakra, which was not him, nor anyone else there, since Hagaromo had scattered Ten Tails around the world, in nine separate parts.)

The Snake King wished to take over the other Human Realm. He wanted to gain the full power of holy fruit of chakra as well.

As things were, he was already the most powerful living being from all the realms there because he possessed the other two holy fruits. Even in the Zeta Realm, which had a more powerful race of humans, there was no one with this kind of power. However, "he" was not satisfied yet. He still needed more (like most villains do). And he was convinced that recovering the power of the chakra fruit and conquering the other Human Realm had to be his next steps.

Kaguya had stopped him before, but nothing was going to stop him now. And the Sage of the Six Paths, who had Kaguya's power, was going to be his first target…

At the coliseum, the Snake King saw Zet and Su holding a young man. Based on how the young man looked at him, it was obvious that he was seeing him as an enemy and a threat. Apparently, Zet and Su were working with him as they promised, but he still didn't trust them. They turned against him before and proved to be a real problem. Therefore, after he finished with Kaguya's successor, they were going to be his next targets. He couldn't afford to leave the two that had challenged him before running around. They had also gained the power of Black and Spiral, so keeping them alive was a threat to him. Besides, they knew too much about him already. He decided that his conquest of the other Human Realm was going to wait until he eliminated Kaguya's successor and these two. However, the events there turned out to be different than what was planned…

The Snake King looked at Zet and Su as if they were inferior pawns. Zet hated that stare because it reminded him that, despite all his hard work, he still wasn't an all-powerful ruler. This dark king and his father, Hagaromo, were still above him… Su Otsutsuki—who was a brother of Hagaromo, and a son of Kaguya, like Hamura—didn't care about who had the most power though. He just wanted to gain the same power that Goddess Kaguya had. And he knew that reviving her was the only way to do it. Unlike Zet, he had no envy of anyone, but, he was in a parallel dark quest for power, due to his own reasons. At the end, Zet and Su were after the same thing, with different goals. Su wanted to be like "the goddess" that promised him her power, and the other—Zet—wanted to surpass the father and the brothers that he hated so much. Eventually, both proved to be equally bad, as villains…

The Snake King looked forward and he noticed Hagaromo right away. The man had the same holy staff that Yuvol—the white snake—described to him. He also had six flames of different colors levitating around him. Moreover, his physical resemblance to prince Hemnos—from the Zeta Realm—was striking; so, there was no doubt about it. This had to be the descendant of Kaguya that was known as the Sage of the Six Paths.

The Snake King looked back at Zet and Su and gave them an order:

"Keep this insect on hold. He is not the one I need. The real Sage of the Six Paths saved me the trouble of looking for him."

The Snake King's voice sounded powerful and vast. It had an impressive reach that human voices don't have. It felt like its sound had surrounded you from all sides, like the air itself. And it was heard loud and clear, as far as half a mile beyond the coliseum, even though he wasn't yelling at all.

The giant king began to walk towards Hagaromo, who was waiting for him patiently, at the other side of the arena. The Snake King barely paid any attention to Spiral, but Spiral didn't feel so comfy on his seat of branches after he saw him. His presence reminded him of his power.

"I really hope that these guys can beat him, so that I can stay here, but I am not so sure about it now…"

As Spiral thought out loud (without talking), he moved up and down without doing anything. The reason was that the white snake was still struggling under his butt…

Su maintained half of himself attached to Ashura and formed his human-looking body with his other half, close to Zet. He didn't let go of Ashura though.

Ashura was starting to worry for real now. The Snake King was the most formidable opponent that he had ever seen; and his father would have to fight him alone if these two didn't free him soon.

"What side are you two on!? His or ours!? Zet! Are you just going to stand there?! Have you fallen this low!?"

Zet looked at Ashura:

"I am not on his side, but I never liked 'the holy sage' either. He is not as holy as all of you want to believe he is."

Su added:

"Young Ashura, we will fight against the Snake King when the time is right, and so will you."

Ashura was ready to blast these two out of the way, but it wasn't so simple. Their partial body control power was really getting in the way.

"You idiots, the right time is now!"

Ashura began to use his chakra at its full intensity against Su, but he couldn't get away completely. Zet had to hold him too though. Even Su, with the full power of the Black guardian, was having a really hard time keeping Ashura in place. However, both of them together could hold Ashura without problems. Their plan was simple: they would let their two worst obstacles fight each other; then, they would kill the survivor, whom wouldn't be at full power either. And both of them would take the fruits of power at the end. In particular, they wanted Hagaromo's fruit of power…

(Spiral was also on their side, so they knew that if Hagaromo was the victor, then Spiral would take care of Ashura. However, if the Snake King won, they needed Ashura on their side…)

The Snake King stopped walking when he could see Hagaromo's face clearly. There was no doubt about it. This guy had to be a son of Kaguya and prince Hemnos. He had to be the one that had the fruit of chakra as well.

Hagaromo talked first:

"I assume that you came to attack us with your most powerful body. Why don't you face me as your real self? Are you afraid of it? Who are you? Are you prince Hemnos from the Zeta Realm of the other humans?"

The giant gray king began to laugh, even though those brave words against him angered him a little. His laughter gave the feeling of an approaching catastrophe, rather than the sense of actual laughter. It moved the air around them so much that Hagaromo's clothes were pushed back by the wind. Then, the Snake King replied:

"I am not afraid of anything, son of Kaguya. That is why I have gained all this power.

You seem to know a lot; so you surely know why I am here now. You have something that belongs to me, the power of the third holy fruit from my realm. And I am here to take it, along with this realm, which shall be my next home."

Hagaromo was ready, so he activated the white flame, which began to look even whiter, and definitely more vigorous than before. It gave him the force of wind and engulfed him with white-looking winds that began to resemble the head of an eagle around him. That was the essence of the wind-based style and its chakra techniques, born from the fruit of chakra. Hagaromo didn't have Ten Tails' (the chakra fruit's) power anymore, but he had mastered the different natural styles of chakra techniques, so he still had these mighty powers on his side.

He was, without a doubt, one of the bravest and most powerful heroes that the second Human Realm ever knew. Unlike the others who managed to possess Ten Tail's power, years later, all his power didn't come just from having been the host of the chakra fruit's incarnation. Just like Naruto, Hagaromo was capable of great things on his own, without having the other holy power…

At that moment, with the eagle of wind glowing around him, he replied to the Snake King:

"The fruits of power never belonged to you. They belonged to the people of the Zeta Realm, until Kaguya and you stole them from them."

The Snake King began to feel very angry. He didn't like seeing that the weaker-looking descendant of Kaguya wasn't afraid of defying him. Thus, he decided that it was time to start their battle.

"I am not prince Hemnos, as you think, but that doesn't matter anymore because you won't live enough to know who I really am."

The white and the black comma-like symbols on the Snake King's forehead began to glow. He made a cross with his arms, in front of himself, and two giant blades began to appear on his hands. One blade was white and the other was black, just like the ones that the man of the black cloak used in the battle against the Seventh Hokage, in Hagaromo's vision. These blades were not solid, but their destructive power was higher than that of any solid blade. They looked like a white and a black chakra sword—similar to Ashura's yellow blades, but bigger. However, they were not made of chakra. They had been created using the same power that gave birth to guardians Black and Spiral. The blades of light and darkness were just a minor example of what the other two holy fruits of power could do.

The Snake King took a fighting stance. It was clear that he was going to attack Hagaromo with the two weapons he created.

"Come! Show me what the new protector of Kaguya's realm can do!"

This time, the winds that were dispersed by his giant voice reached everyone in the coliseum—Zet, Su, Spiral, Ashura, and especially, Hagaromo—with great force. Hagaromo's hair was pushed back as if he was in the middle of a storm. The sound of the voice travelled several miles beyond the coliseum as well. A battle of epic proportions was about to take place there…

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: Hagaromo versus the Snake King


	49. Ch 49: Hagaromo versus the Snake King

**CHAPTER 49: Hagaromo versus the Snake King**

The Snake King used the black blade to strike the spot where Hagaromo was standing. Before the blade and the black flames that surrounded it landed on the arena, Hagaromo moved out of there, as fast as the wind. The white eagle that surrounded him carried him out of there and stayed around him. The black blade and its dark flames didn't touch him, but it reached one of the edges of the coliseum and left that spot in ruins. It also lifted a cloud of sand that reached Ashura and the others. The devastating power of the Snake King's blades was starting to show itself. Clearly, the coliseum wasn't going to survive for too long…

Hagaromo moved in the air with speed and ease, thanks to the power of wind, which he summoned using the entire white flame. This "path of wind," or the essence of the wind-style, took the shape of a white eagle's head around Hagaromo, and it became his main way to move around during his entire battle with the Snake King.

Hagaromo didn't waste any time. He already knew what had to be done and he knew that he had to be successful; otherwise, the Snake King would be able to beat them there, and his plan for the future would not work either…

Before the Snake King's eyes found him again, Hagaromo created an invisible seal of chakra that stayed in front of him during the battle. It looked like there was nothing in front of him though because the seal remained invisible. He already knew what it looked like, of course, but its true purpose wasn't revealed until much later, during that epic showdown. He also summoned the power of the earth-style using the brown flame:

"Path of earth! Release!"

The brown flame took the shape of a gorilla's face—like the ones at the Earth Realm—and surrounded Hagaromo as well. Now, he only had four other flames around him: blue, green, red, and yellow.

The Snake King swung his white blade aimed at Hagaromo's direction, as soon as he saw him again. It wasn't going to reach Hagaromo, but the white wave that its white flames produced was headed that way, like a giant wave of white chakra. Hagaromo dodged the wave and it clashed with the coliseum's structure, causing the beginning of its inevitable collapse.

Before the Snake King could move again, Hagaromo used the power of earth on him:

"Grand earth-style jutsu, planetary impalers!"

Giant spines of solid earth came from the sand, around the Snake King, and began to strike him from all sides. At least thirty of the giant spines landed on the dark king. However, none of them managed to penetrate his skin. He wasn't harmed at all!

"This isn't your best, son of Kaguya. Show me the true power of the holy fruit of chakra!"

The Snake King broke several of the giant spines with just one push of his legs. Then, he shattered the rest with two 180 degree slashes from his two blades. The black comma on his forehead began to glow—meaning that he was about to use the power of the fruit of darkness—and the great spines that remained were completely disintegrated. Nothing was left from them. Apparently, the power of darkness—or the "dark" element—could destroy chakra-based techniques.

Hagaromo combined the powers of wind and earth to gain time for his first important attack against the Snake King. The holy sage lifted an intense sandstorm at the coliseum. It carried so much sand that visibility became very blurry for everyone…

Ashura was very worried about his father. He didn't understand why he wasn't using the grand power of Ten Tails from the start. He wasn't even using the other rinnegan. What was wrong with him?

Ashura knew that the six colored flames made it possible for his father to use some of the strongest elemental attacks that existed, without having any sage mode. However, he also knew that the rinnegan's attacks and the techniques that came directly from Ten Tails were the most powerful ones that chakra could produce. Against a threat of this magnitude, it made no sense that his father wasn't using that power. Furthermore, he wasn't even using his chakra platforms or his levitating power. He was airborne only because he was using his path of wind—the white eagle. It almost felt like Hagaromo was fighting without Ten Tails, and, as if he didn't have the other rinnegan either. And that was exactly the case. However, Ashura didn't know it yet…

Likewise, Zet and Su began to suspect that something was wrong with Hagaromo; and they had not even noticed that he only had one of his two rinnegans now. Zet was very good at sensing other people's chakra levels and their overall power—this was one of the abilities he gained when he obtained Spiral's powers. Therefore, Zet was the first one that noticed, without doubts, that Hagaromo was indeed less powerful than before. Su didn't sense chakra levels, but he knew Hagaromo well. (Many years had passed, but Hagaromo and Hamura were still Su's elder brothers, just like Indra and Ashura were Zet's elder brothers. Because of that, Su knew Hagaromo fairly well.) Therefore, Su knew that something was wrong and he also knew that Hagaromo was surely plotting something else—as always…

Spiral didn't care about the ones involved. He was just watching—as if he was on a beach—until Hagaromo's sandstorm messed up his show.

The Snake King was becoming a more violent threat every minute that went by.

"Do you think that a cheap trick to cloud my vision can help you against me?! Do you really believe that something this simple will stop me!?"

The black and the white commas on his forehead began to glow again, and a growing gray field began to expand around him. When the field covered the whole coliseum, the Snake King released it and all the techniques of chakra, light, and darkness that had been used within that area were completely nullified. The few traces left from the giant earth spines disappeared entirely, as if they had never been used there. And the storm of wind and earth was stopped right away. The only things that didn't go away were the remaining flames around Hagaromo, the white eagle and the brown gorilla shapes that protected him, and the invisible seal. (Apparently, these were not normal chakra techniques. They were the "holy paths of nature" that only a master of all the styles—like Hagaromo—could summon. The seal was also some kind of special technique that only Hagaromo knew because he was the one that created it.)

Hagaromo was already positioned in front of the Snake King before the sandstorm was terminated. He launched a strong earth-style attack, which used the essence of the power of earth itself. The brown gorilla face around him went through the invisible seal that he had in front and rushed towards the Snake King's face, like a meteorite of earth. As soon as it was visible, it was already there, so the dark king couldn't dodge it. The natural power of the Earth Realm crashed with the giant's face at full force.

Then, Hagaromo used the red flame and his path of fire created the orange face of a fierce fox around him.

The Snake King's face wasn't hurt, even though the attack was powerful. Nonetheless, it was left all dirty and dusty, so he got furious.

"Aaaaaarrgghhh!"

His powerful scream shook the whole coliseum and its sound went as far as the Otsutsuki Clan itself. By then, the visibility was clear again and Hagaromo's sandstorm was gone.

It was then that Zet and Su got a clear view of Hagaromo, and they noticed that he only had one of his rinnegans. What happened to him? Whatever the case, both Zet and Su knew that the odds were against Hagaromo now. It looked like they would have to fight against the Snake King again. And this time losing was not an option for them…

Before the Snake King's scream of anger ended, Hagaromo used the powers of wind and fire on him:

"Fire and wind! Fire storm!"

A giant whirlpool of flames began to form and circle the Snake King at high speed. Before he could attack it, the whole thing crashed on him.

Hagaromo didn't stop. He saw his best chance to ensure that the giant orange fox would land on the enemy—just like the brown gorilla's face did—so he launched it against the Snake King's left shoulder; and it landed there like a hot bomb. (The reason why he aimed such a powerful attack at the left shoulder, in particular, became clear later on.) The "path of fire," just like the "path of earth" before it, went through Hagaromo's invisible seal before it crashed head-on with the Snake King.

This was enough for the dark king. Even though the powerful attacks didn't hurt him much—something that was already incredible on its own—he wasn't going to tolerate them anymore. It was time to show the Sage of the Six Paths what he was fighting against.

All three commas—yellow, white, and black—on the Snake King's forehead lighted up. A white aura appeared around him and it faded away, after just a few seconds. Then, it was visible that his face wasn't dirty anymore and the small damage that the fox did on his shoulder was gone as well. The fire storm barely did anything to him; it did more to his pieces of armor. However, even the armor looked like new now. Any harm done to him had been erased completely by the power of the fruit of light.

"Do you want a real fire storm? I will give you one and more!"

The Snake King opened his mouth and fire began to form around it and inside. While this happened, his yellow "chakra symbol"—on his forehead—glowed with more intensity than before. At the same time, various dark shadow clones that resembled the man of the black cloak appeared. All of them carried smaller versions of the black blade that he giant Snake King had. Obviously, the dark clones came from the power of the fruit of darkness.

Hagaromo knew that this "man of the black cloak" had to be the real dark king behind all of this; and these clones surely resembled him. The giant king was his strongest body for sure, but it wasn't his real self.

Hagaromo had the time to release the green flame, right before the dark clones began to chase him. This "path of life" created a green face of a human from the Zeta Realm around him. The face was very similar to ours, but it also had two small horns—that looked like a white shark's fin—coming out from the sides of the head.

The battle started to get pretty dangerous after that, even for the Sage of the Six Paths. The dark shadow clones went after him and the Snake King unleashed a tornado-like attack of wind and fire from his mouth. He also had the light and dark blades ready to continue their devastation, while they sought their target.

After that moment, the three commas on the Snake King's forehead remained ignited for the rest of the battle. This meant that he was ready to use the powers of darkness, light, and chakra at any given time. (He did have chakra-based powers, but they were not as mighty as what the host of the fruit of chakra was capable of. Likewise, the powers of light and darkness of the people from the Zeta Realm could not be compared to his. His were vastly superior because the fruits of light and darkness were in his possession.)

The chase began to get worrisome pretty quickly. Hagaromo had the dozens of "black cloak clones," the giant blades, and the fire tornado chasing him. And even though the Snake King and his attacks were the bigger problem, the dark clones he summoned were pretty aggressive and skilled—definitely not "pushover" clones.

The speed of the path of wind was not enough to avoid them all for too long. At the same time, Hagaromo needed to land his major attacks on the Snake King's body, at the correct places. He couldn't afford to miss any of those. It was the last thing that had to be successful to complete his plan to save the future. Therefore, he needed to be reasonably close to the Snake King's body. It was an extremely difficult situation with the hooded clones with swords chasing him relentlessly.

He had to make many shadow clones of his own and engage with the dark clones in battle. Otherwise, he wasn't going to have enough time to attack the Snake King without getting killed by one of the hooded clones first.

Hagaromo and his clones demonstrated awesome skill in that quick clash with dozens of hooded ninjas in black cloaks. The holy sage was older and he—and his clones—had a staff as a weapon, instead of swords. However, the other ninjas barely touched them. Furthermore, Hagaromo managed to confuse them all about who was his real self and he got close enough to the dangerous Snake King.

It was then that he saw the opportunity to land the next strike on the king.

From a side, the real Hagaromo blasted the Snake King's right shoulder with the full force of his "path of life"—the green human face with horns. Unlike the previous attacks, this one caused serious damage to the Snake King because chakra-based healing could destroy tissue, if it was used as an anti-healing attack. And this style's techniques ignored whether the living tissue was hard as a rock or soft as a pillow. If it was "alive" then healing could recover it and anti-healing could destroy it.

The Snake King's right shoulder received five giant cuts from this attack and an immense amount of blood began to come out of them. He had to drop down his right arm right away, so it was serious. Because of this, the Snake King didn't hesitate about his counterattack. He used the three types of powers again: light, chakra, and darkness. A sudden flash of light blinded everyone there for a few seconds. Then, a multiple lightning attack came from the five fingers of the Snake King's left hand. It hit Hagaromo and all his clones, which had been stopped temporarily by the white flash. All that happened in just two seconds. Then, the Snake King made more dark clones with black cloaks—that was probably his favorite set of clothes, he sure loved it.

All of Hagaromo's clones disappeared and he was hit pretty hard by that lightning-based strike. He fell on the ground and experienced difficulty to get back up quickly, even with the aid of the eagle of wind—the path of wind—that he still had. The lightning weakened his body considerably. He had no chance to see it, since the flash of light took away his vision right before that, so evading it wasn't possible.

Despite the sudden fall, Hagaromo managed to get back on his feet, but his strength had been seriously shaken with that attack.

Then, Hagaromo's rinnegan sensed an incoming sword strike that was about to land on him. He moved to the side, but he was not fast enough to avoid it completely, and the tip of the blade still reached him. He felt how the black blade cut through one of his thighs with its edge. The new dark clones saw him right away because all his clones were gone, so there was only one of him. And they all went after him, while he was getting up.

Hagaromo didn't even bother looking back. He already knew that at least three or four more swords were approaching his head. He could feel it, so he used a powerful wind-shield right away. And that was what saved his life at that instant. However, that wasn't going to stop them or the Snake King for long. Hagaromo felt that he was running out of time. He had to hurry!

He knew he had little time left, not because he was wounded or because the Snake King's lightning attack left him weakened, but because he started to feel fatigued as well. He didn't have Ten Tails—the living fruit of chakra—with him now, so his power had a limit, unlike before. And his enemy's power didn't seem to have that human limit. Therefore, he had to land the six attacks of the six natural paths of chakra on the Snake King, before it was too late to do it. Earth, fire, and life (the anti-healing attack) had succeeded. He still had three left…

Hagaromo raised his staff and the two remaining flames around him were activated at once!

"Paths of water and lightning, release!"

The blue flame took the shape of a blue slug, which looked like Tsunade's summon (in Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, the adult Tsunade can summon the slug queen from the Water Realm of the Slugs, which is full of lakes). The yellow flame transformed into the head of a royal dragon of lightning (similar to the one that Sasuke used once in Naruto Shippuden). Basically, the six paths of chakra took the shape of the habitant of the realm where that natural type of chakra was the most abundant. The Earth Realm of the Monkeys was the realm of earth, by default. The slugs were masters of healing, but their attacks were water-based and their realm was covered with lakes on the surface everywhere. The birds and the eagles lived at a realm of scattered giant trees and an acid surface, where they couldn't stand; thus, the air and its power reigned supreme at that realm—more than at any other. The humans of the Zeta Realm were the original creators, so their realm saw more creation and destruction of life than all others. Similar circumstances were present with fire at the Realm of the Foxes (which had many volcanoes), and with lightning at the Realm of the Royal Dragons (where thunderstorms were falling on the land all year long). We also had the Realm of the Ninja Dogs and the Realm of the Snakes, of course, but those two didn't represent any of Hagaromo's six paths of nature…

As soon as the yellow head of the dragon and the blue face of the slug joined the white eagle, all the ninjas with black cloaks and swords surrounded Hagaromo and rushed against him. In their eyes it was the end for the holy sage. Then, Hagaromo raised his staff and the force of lightning engulfed it. Both the staff and the dragon's face launched yellow currents of electro-shocks that reached and grabbed every dark clone, before their final strikes landed on Hagaromo.

What he did to them was almost the same thing that the Snake King did to him and his shadow clones before. All the dark clones were destroyed with that single attack. However, the Snake King and his shoulder were like new again; and Hagaromo was not like before anymore. The holy sage knew that his limit was close, so he decided that he had to land the remaining three "paths" on his enemy at once. He had to prevent the Snake King from blocking them though. This was going to be more difficult now, unless he could use an attack that would require the Snake King's entire focus and attention. Only that would give him the chance to land the three remaining paths as well…

Hagaromo shot a lightning arrow at the giant king and, as expected, he destroyed it with the blade of darkness, which was the one that could disintegrate chakra attacks. (The power of darkness could destroy. The power of light could create and restore. And together, they could do even more than that—they could reshape and alter.)

Then, Hagaromo used the grand attack that would give him the large opening that he was looking for:

"Descend, twin lightning tornados!"

He used the powers of water, lightning, and wind together in this intense chakra-based phenomenon. It made two tornadoes with water, wind, and lots of lightning fall from the sky, directly towards the Snake King. They formed above the coliseum and began to fall pretty fast.

Surprisingly, the Snake King didn't dodge the two barrages of nature's forces, even though he had one chance to do it before they reached him. Instead, he raised and merged the blade of light with the blade of darkness. They formed a gray twilight shield above him; and that was where the two giant claws of wind, water, and lightning fell down with all their might.

The twilight shield began to get pushed down a little, but it showed no signs of breaking, even with those two catastrophes falling on it. The Snake King didn't seem to be having an easy time though. Clearly, he was pushing against the two tornadoes with his shield. The shield had the shape of half-a-sphere, so it left his head, his hands, and his shoulders completely out of sight, while he stopped Hagaromo's attack. The rest of his body was visible and wide open to attacks though. Therefore, Hagaromo took his chance. He knew that these two tornadoes were his last massive attack. What was left for him was completing the six paths on the Snake King by landing the remaining three at the right places—which were wide open now. The previous three had landed on the head and on the shoulders—where they had to land. He had to land the final three on the legs and on the body. And this seemed like the ideal time to finish it.

Hagaromo flew at full speed with the white eagle that carried him throughout the battle. He was going to launch the blue water slug, the yellow dragon, and the white eagle against the Snake King. However, when he was close enough to do it and close enough to get a full view of the dark king, he realized that it was a trap!

Beneath the twilight shield, the Snake King was holding back the entire shield and the natural catastrophes above it with just one hand. The other hand was ready to trap Hagaromo with a technique of the darkness-style. Two halves of a dark sphere were ready to encapsulate him, as soon as he got there. The dark sphere would absorb Hagaromo's elemental jutsus, so natural techniques were obsolete inside that thing. The Snake King planned to grab the dark sphere with his free hand, after it trapped the Sage of the Six Paths. Then, he would destroy it.

Hagaromo figured out what was going to happen very quickly. Before the two halves of the sphere trapped him, he sent the blue slug against the giant's left leg and he launched the yellow dragon to crash on the right leg with incredible force. And both went through the invisible seal in front of the holy sage, just like the previous ones did. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to send the white eagle forward. The dark sphere trapped him before that. He still had to land the white eagle on the body, which had not been touched by any of the six paths yet.

The dark sphere's two halves moved too fast—even faster than the path of wind. They merged together, as soon as they touched, leaving Hagaromo trapped inside. At that moment, the Snake King felt the powerful clashes of water and lightning on his legs. The blue slug pushed him a few meters back and the dragon shacked his other leg from top to bottom, leaving it a little numb. However, in just one minute he already looked as if nothing had happened. These attacks weren't powerful enough to hurt him badly. And even the anti-healing blast that made his shoulder bleed didn't stop him for longer than one minute. The healing power of the fruit of light left his shoulder like new again…

The Snake King grabbed the dark sphere with his free hand. The dark and light commas on his forehead began to glow with more intensity and the twilight shield above him sent a giant gray wave upwards. The wave took the two lightning tornadoes with it. It broke them apart pretty quickly and turned them into mere air. Then, the twilight shield began to disappear. Using it to stop the tornadoes and to generate the large wave had consumed its full blend of light and dark power.

The Snake King moved his other hand towards the dark sphere. It was the time to crush it.

"I can't believe it was this easy. Are you really the Sage of the Six Paths and the owner of the fruit of chakra? Yuvol's information may be wrong.

Either way, I'm done with you. The young man over there shall tell me where the real one is.

Prince Hemnos and Kaguya had two twin sons. You must be Hamura, the one that didn't inherit her full power, nor the holy fruit of chakra. Hagaromo, the Sage of the Six Paths, is the one I need. I'm sure he will be as powerful as Kaguya herself. And I am ready to crush him. This time the holy fruit of chakra will be mine. I won't leave this realm until I have it. The third piece of the holy trinity of power from the Zeta Realm will belong to me soon."

The Snake King stopped talking and he began to crush the dark sphere with the two palms of his hands. Finally, Hagaromo made his choice…

He had been saving the rinnegan's full power to perform the grand sealing technique of the six paths. It was the second most powerful seal that he had created during his life (the first one being the one he used on Ten Tails), and it required a tremendous amount of sage chakra and precision to pull it off. In spite of that, it was a little less difficult than the other one because for that one he had the help of his brother Hamura. (The legends from the future only spoke about him alone, but his twin, Hamura Otsutsuki, also helped him to complete the seal on Ten Tails.)

Hagaromo needed the rinnegan's full power to ensure that the seal would be successful. However, none of that mattered if the Snake King killed him first. Therefore, he used the rinnegan wisely.

When the Snake King's hands began to crack the sphere from both sides, Hagaromo destroyed it with a single strike using four rinne-slashes that hit it above, below, and one each side, where the Snake King's hands were. The sphere shattered and the Snake King received two large X-shaped cuts on his hands. The rinne-slashes could cut through his hard skin and they reminded him of the techniques that Kaguya used to fight him before.

Surprisingly, the Snake King didn't retreat his hands when he felt the slashes of chakra. Hagaromo was still right there, between his two hands, so the king tried to finish crushing him. Without the sphere in the way, it was going to be much simpler. The two huge hands rushed together, as if they were going to trap a fly inside and squash it. The Snake King was sure that this was going to end it. However, it didn't.

Before the hands closed themselves on Hagaromo, he placed his holy staff horizontally in front of himself, and he held it tight with both hands. In the same millisecond when the Snake King's hands were within the reach of Hagaromo's staff, two large and green double-helix shapes came from the opposite edges of the staff. They opened a hole through the center of both hands and they kept them apart, so the Snake King couldn't crush Hagaromo. The green helixes had the same anti-healing element that had crushed one of the Snake King's shoulders before.

When the dark king saw that, he realized that this was not Hamura—the one that looked more like Kaguya, even though he didn't inherit her full power. This had to be Hagaromo—the son of Kaguya that looked more like prince Hemnos, and the one who had her power now. He came to that quick conclusion because that powerful double-helix coming from a staff-like weapon had also been one of the effective attacks that Kaguya used against him before. For some reason, Hagaromo, the Sage of the Six Paths, wasn't using the full power of the fruit of chakra; but now the Snake King was certain that this was the guy he needed. There was no doubt about it.

The giant king couldn't move his hands out of the green helixes right away. Hagaromo's staff kept them in place and Hagaromo didn't waste time either. The holy sage landed on the ground and he sent the mighty white eagle against the Snake King's chest. The strike of wind was so powerful that it lifted the giant and made him fall on the opposite end of the coliseum, breaking what was left of it, when he landed there.

The invisible seal that Hagaromo had been using also became visible, in front of him. It had two large concentric circles on the edges, which made its border look like a one-meter-wide ring. Inside, it had what looked like a body traced with marks of yellow chakra. The body's shape resembled the Snake King. It had a brown dot on the head, a red dot on the left shoulder, a white dot on the chest, a green dot on the right shoulder, and—as you might expect—it also had one blue dot on the leg where the blue slug fell and one yellow dot on the other leg, where the lightning dragon crashed. The seal for Hagaromo's six paths and his ultimate sealing technique had been completed. Now, he still had to activate it. And if he did it, he would finish the last thing he had to do for the plan that could save the future; and he would be able to save his sons, his people from the Otsutsuki Clan, and their present…

Hagaromo placed the seal on the ground where he was. He couldn't move it after that, so that was the location on the coliseum where it was going to stay. He also knew that he needed to convert the remaining power of the rinnegan into the massive amount of natural chakra that he needed to activate this grand sealing technique. It was going to take all of it. He was certain about it because he had already seen the moment when he activated this seal, in his visions of the future. And the rinnegan from that vision felt exactly as the one he had now. Therefore, he couldn't use it to attack anymore. He had to preserve its power if he wanted to save the future and his present. It was the only way…

The Snake King stood up furious. He still had the holy staff and the helixes holding his hands as if they were some sort of handcuff. His symbol of darkness on his forehead became more intense and visible than the other two at that instant; and two intermittent dark spheres began to grow around his hands. When the spheres stopped growing, he held the two green double-helixes and he began to disintegrate them with his hands. Next, he held the holy staff itself and broke it in half. The intermittent spheres left his hands and devoured the two pieces of the staff. They disappeared after that, but nothing was left from Hagaromo's holy staff.

And now, the Snake King was sure that this was the man he needed to obtain the holy fruit of chakra. He knew that only the Sage of the Six Paths would be able to use Kaguya's techniques against him. And, from the dark king's point of view, only such a person had the power to challenge him.

While the Snake King walked back towards Hagaromo, a white aura from the power of the fruit of light engulfed his hands. It healed them back to normal. In very little time, the holes that Hagaromo's staff opened in the giant hands were gone.

Hagaromo covered the special seal with plenty of sand and he began to run away from there. At least, he knew where it was; but, he couldn't stay there and he had to ensure that the Snake King would not know about it yet. Unfortunately, his running didn't last for too long. He simply couldn't run with the wound that the dark clone made on one of his thighs before.

Now, he didn't have the path of wind, or the eagle, to facilitate his fast movement in the air. He was on foot, like any of us. And his powers were the same chakra attacks that any normal elite ninja could do. He could not use the rinnegan to attack again if he wanted to activate the seal, as he had seen in his vision. He definitely had no time or energy to reach a sage mode either. However, he still had faith. He believed that everything was going to work, just as he had seen it. Up to now, his visions had not failed him…

The white aura on the Snake King's hands didn't go away after both were healed. It divided itself and it focused on the tip of his fingers. Then, the ten small masses of white light turned into ten clones of light that looked just like the dark clones from before, but they were white, like the light that created them. They also resembled the man of the black cloak with the hood, but their cloaks were white. Unlike the previous dark clones, these "clones of light" could move through the air, just like Hagaromo did when he had the path of air with him. These guys definitely looked like a problem at this point…

Before the Snake King reached the holy sage, the ten clones of light surrounded Hagaromo and unleashed some kind of technique of light together, in a circle. What they did sent a flash of light towards Hagaromo, whom was at the center of their circle. After that, he began to see just the light and nothing else. Hagaromo understood what was happening though. The clones of light were not ninja attackers with swords, like the dark clones; they were the equivalent of "mages of the light-style." And their techniques could be just as bad—in different ways. Hagaromo was sure that he was seeing light only because he was within their circle. He had to escape it to see everything else again. However, when he moved, they all moved with him—from their position in the air—so the circle of their technique was not leaving him. And he couldn't target them easily with chakra techniques because he wasn't seeing them either; so he didn't know their exact location in the air around him. He only knew that they were keeping a circular formation at some altitude around him.

Outside the circle of the white clones, everything was visible. Thus, the Snake King and everyone there could still see Hagaromo and the clones around him.

The holy sage could have broken that circle in no time with the rinnegan's techniques, but he was saving that power to activate the grand seal on the Snake King. He knew that without the seal of the six paths victory was not likely.

The Snake King's yellow comma—on his forehead—began to shine brighter than the other two because he was about to use a chakra-based attack. He used his left hand to summon several hands of sand to catch Hagaromo. The holy sage felt what was coming, but with his blocked vision, he simply couldn't avoid many of them. The hands that caught him lifted him up from the ground several meters, placing him right at the center of the ten clones of light and their circle. Then, the Snake King used his other hand to summon a cylindrical field of lightning around the clones. The field began to close itself around Hagaromo, electrocuting anything in its path. The clones of light had powerful techniques, but they were pretty weak, like most shadow clones. All of them disappeared soon after the electric shock touched them. Hagaromo could see again, but he didn't escape what was coming. The field reached him and delivered a shock that was even worse than the one he felt before, when the dark clones landed a strike on him.

Before the field was gone, it destroyed most of the hands that were holding Hagaromo. It didn't kill him, but the shock he received made him scream and left him in a pretty sorry condition, considering who he was. His white clothes were left very dirty and broken. He also got several burns on his arms, from the electric shock. The battle was practically over for him. It was clear that he couldn't beat the Snake King now, unless he could activate the seal of the six paths, somehow…

The Snake King threw a punch aimed at Hagaromo and sent him flying many meters away from there. He also destroyed the two hands of sand that remained. He thought that the time to take the holy fruit of chakra had finally arrived. He would extract it, and then, he would kill the Sage of the Six Paths. After that, he could conquer Kaguya's Human Realm, just like he did with the Realm of the Snakes, after he defeated their previous king—Yuvol. He also had to take care of Zet and Su…

Hagaromo was lying on the sand. He could barely move. Nonetheless, he still had faith—he never lost his faith. He believed that the visions and the events he already knew were going to happen. The grand seal had to be activated at all costs, even if it seemed close to impossible to do it now…

Meanwhile, Ashura was desperate. He didn't know why, but, it was obvious that his father couldn't use the power of Ten Tails. It was also clear that the Snake King was going to kill him.

When Ashura saw the state of Hagaromo, after he was sent flying by the Snake King's punch, he couldn't take being held back by Zet and the black one anymore. He had to help his father, or else, the dark king would kill him.

"Father!"

Zet and Su had to struggle to hold back Ashura's chakra mode. One of them alone wouldn't have been able to hold him back. Ashura was also starting to understand the likely reasons that these two had to wait.

"Zet! What the hell are you waiting for!? Are you waiting for him to die!? Is that what you want!?"

Zet smiled and he slowly began to gather sage chakra to activate his most powerful combination of sage modes. He was going to become a snake sage and a sage of healing—the sage mode from the Water Realm of the Slugs—at once. The sage mode of the snakes was more powerful than the earth sage mode (which he used in the future to fight the earth ninja from Maida's village). The sage mode of the slugs was the best choice for fast healing. It also increased the power of his water attacks (water was his primary element; earth was his secondary one). And it could be used for the powerful anti-healing attacks as well. The combination of these two sage modes was a serious force; and that wasn't even taking into account that Zet had gained many of Spiral's powers as well. In comparison to the Snake King, Zet and Su didn't seem that powerful, but the reality was that they were a big threat too…

Zet replied to Ashura with a pretty confident voice:

"We are waiting for the right time. It is very close now. Get ready. We will fight against him next. And losing is not an option here."

Su was a little concerned though, but he didn't say anything about it. He knew that Hagaromo had some kind of trump card, or something else. His brother wasn't the type who would give up easily. Su didn't believe that Hagaromo would be defeated easily either. The holy sage probably had some "final trick" on his side. After all, he was the only one who figured out a way to defeat Ten Tails…

The Snake King grabbed Hagaromo from the ground with one of his hands. It was time for him to get the third and final fruit of power from the Zeta Realm.

"Was this all that Kaguya's mightiest son and the most powerful human here could do? Even my two apprentices from this realm challenged me much more than you. You are not worthy of your power, so now it will be mine."

When the Snake King tried to extract the power of the holy fruit of chakra, he sensed and realized that it simply wasn't there. The holy sage didn't have the fruit of chakra. In other words, Hagaromo managed to land some serious strikes on the all-mighty Snake King with his own power. And if he had the holy fruit, he surely would have been just as mighty as Goddess Kaguya herself. However, Hagaromo already knew that the Snake King had one special technique of light that would defeat him and any other opponent, regardless of their power. He knew that he couldn't fight him now with the fruit of chakra in his possession… It was the only way to save his present and to make the future victory possible…

The Snake King's fury came back when he realized that the fruit of chakra had never been at that coliseum.

"What is this? Why isn't it here!? Where are you hiding it!?"

Hagaromo wasn't saying anything, even though he began to feel the dark king's hand and its pressure around him.

"Do you think that you can keep it away from me!? I will have it, even if you don't give it up. Without it, you are nothing to me either. You are not even worth possessing now, since even my real self is beyond what you are.

Good bye son of Kaguya."

The Snake King began to move his other hand towards Hagaromo. He was going to do what he failed to do before. And this time, Hagaromo was not going to stop him. He could have used the rinnegan, even in his weak condition, but using it would mean that he would not have enough power to activate the grand seal. Instead, he chose to believe in fate. Something unexpected had to happen there and the holy sage knew it. It was the only way to activate that seal now. On the other hand, Zet was close to reaching his dual sage mode as well, but he had no plans to help Hagaromo…

Right before the Snake King could crush the holy sage with his hands, a violet flame came from the sky. It was moving with a tremendous speed! When it got there, we could all see that it was a giant of violet-colored chakra with wings and two giant chakra blades. It looked very similar to Sasuke's Susanoo chakra armor, after the Fourth Great Ninja War. The way the giant's chakra looked also resembled how Ashura's yellow hands of chakra looked. Within the giant, there was a man too. It was Hagaromo's eldest son, Indra Otsutsuki!

Indra's Susanoo didn't even land on the coliseum. It landed with both of its swords right on the Snake King's head! The strike was so devastating that it sent a wave of air and sand throughout the coliseum. Its force also sent the dark king's face to the ground and kept on pushing his whole body forward, until it hit the closest edge of the coliseum, which crumbled above him too. Along the way, the Snake King had to let go of Hagaromo. The chakra swords didn't penetrate his head, but one of them—the one that Indra pushed harder—was fully consumed by the strike. It left a massive burn on the backside of the Snake King's head. The other one also did its damage, but it wasn't gone after the strike.

By the time the Snake King was aware of what happened, the remains of the whole edge of the coliseum had fallen on him. Everything happened too fast…

Indra's attack didn't stop there though. His Susanoo still had one of the chakra blades and the full momentum of that crazy landing. Therefore, Indra continued. When the Susanoo placed its legs on the sand there, after landing with the swords on the Snake King, it didn't stop; it continued its movement with a second strike! It used the remaining chakra sword and the full momentum to slash the other two that were holding Ashura. The tip of Indra's giant chakra blade cut Zet and Su in half! Zet couldn't finish his sage modes and Su was caught completely off guard, just like his former master, the Snake King.

Immediately, Indra used his Susanoo's hands and grabbed Hagaromo and Ashura to ensure their safety.

Spiral fell back so hard on his chair of white branches that he broke half of it. He almost broke his own neck too—although he could grow it back, so it was no problem. For a moment, he thought that a third strike was going to fall on his head next. Spiral even broke half of the branches that were holding Yuvol—the white snake—because of how hard and fast he threw himself backwards. He didn't even think about it either. He could visualize the third strike on his head, so he jumped back right away.

"Holy things! Who's that guy!?"

Spiral was almost shaking from the abrupt surprise attack. Also, the snake had its mouth and head free again, thanks to Spiral's fall. Thus, Yuvol answered as if Spiral was talking to him:

"That is the holy sage's oldest son, Indra. He is a brother of Zet, like Ashura, the other guy that they were holding. That's what they get for being a pair of traitors!"

Spiral suddenly changed from shocked and scared to angry and violent.

"Shut up! I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to myself!"

Spiral buried Yuvol's head in the sand with a single punch. For a moment, he was glad that he wasn't in the battle, but things looked uncertain now. After this, who was going to win there? Were Zet and Su still on his side? Now, seeing the Snake King lose was in Spiral's best interest as well, since he was as much of a traitor as them…

The Snake King was really mad. He began to lift the debris that was all over him. He also began to heal his head with a white light. He forgot about Hagaromo; now, his only concern was burying the bastard that had landed there. Who it was didn't matter to him.

Indra noticed that the large enemy was going to come back very soon, so he placed his father at a safer place—still on the sand. This was the first time that he had seen his father in such a bad condition. He could barely believe it. Indra also placed Ashura on the ground, beside his giant chakra armor.

Hagaromo noticed that now he wasn't too far from where he placed the grand seal for the Snake King. If Indra and Ashura could keep the dark king busy, then it was possible for him to activate it. He had to make it all the way there though, and his thigh was bleeding more than before. He still felt the last lightning shock too. However, he would make it. He knew that he would do it…

There was one more prerequisite for it to work though. The Snake King had to be standing at the center of the coliseum when the seal was fully activated. It was necessary for Hagaromo's plan. However, it wasn't going to be easy now…

Hagaromo used one of the rinnegan's special abilities, which was not an attack, so it didn't consume power from it. Instead, it used Hagaromo's own chakra. He used telepathy to send his short message to Indra and Ashura:

"Listen. We can defeat him. If you two manage to hold him at the very center of the coliseum, I will use the grand seal of the six paths on him. Then, we'll have a chance to win. Otherwise, our chances are close to none."

Both Indra and Ashura recognized the voice they heard. Indra's Susanoo had faded away and now he was standing beside Ashura. Indra was quite surprised at first:

"Really? Is this giant truly so powerful that he doesn't think we can beat him together? In that case, we must fight him with everything we have. Ashura, this is the time for you to use your chakra mode's full form—the one that rivals my Susanoo in size and power. I will use my mangekyou sharingan to release my fire-style Susanoo too. We can't lose!"

The Snake King was on his feet again. He began to turn around to go back. The battle with him was going to continue.

Indra and Ashura stood side-by-side. The way they looked was like a mirror reflection of how Sasuke and Naruto looked when they prepared themselves to fight together against the revived Madara Uchiha, during the Fourth Great Ninja War of the future. The stances of Indra and Ashura matched the way Sasuke and Naruto looked inch by inch. In many ways, Sasuke and Naruto were "the Indra" and "the Ashura" of the future…

Zet and Su raised from the ground and came back. Their bodies had been cut in half, but they had returned to their original shape. They stood up just a few meters behind Indra and Ashura. When they did that, they looked too much like Spiral; the only clear differences were that Zet had green hair on his head and Su was black—just like guardian Black, from Hagaromo's vision of the Seventh Hokage's battle. It started to become pretty obvious that there was some connection between Zet and Spiral, and between Su and Black. Furthermore, it wasn't hard to guess that these two had to be "the Snake King's two apprentices from Kaguya's realm."

Zet talked to his brothers:

"We will join you too. Together, all four of us can defeat him."

Zet knew that he needed their power, since he couldn't even reach sage mode. As he was now, the Snake King would destroy him, but with his brothers and Su, he saw a chance to win this time. Besides, the holy sage didn't worry him anymore because the old man was almost dead after what happened there. Now, his only real obstacle was the Snake King.

Ashura replied:

"You have a lot to answer for Zet. Even if you help us now, we can't forgive what you have done."

Indra's reply wasn't as nice as Ashura's though:

"You were holding Ashura just one minute ago, so don't ever think that I consider you my ally now. It's too bad you didn't die from that slash I gave you little brother. You came here with our enemy, didn't you? Do you think I didn't realize that?

It doesn't matter. After Ashura and I are finished with your big boss, I will take care of the small flies myself. Don't get in my way during this battle, you hear me!"

Zet was standing a few meters behind them. He hated Indra's cockiness, just like he hated his all-mighty father, but he had to swallow it. He knew that he needed their power to win here. Su didn't stay quiet though; he whispered something to Zet:

"What a fool he is. Soon, he's going to realize who the small fly is and what he's up against. And we need to make sure that both of them and their powers count in our favor. We'll have to support them too. This time, he will kill us for sure if he defeats us. The Snake King has to die here for our own sake."

Zet and Su had been able to recover fairly quickly from the Susanoo's slash because the power they had gained was the same kind of power that guardians Black and Spiral had. Zet didn't have enough time for his sage modes though, so he was not at his best for this upcoming battle.

The Snake King began to walk towards the Otsutsukis. He quickly noticed that Zet and Su Otsutsuki were with them too, meaning they had chosen to betray him again. Clearly, he had to dispose of them already—and the sooner the better.

Indra was ready for the battle:

"Ashura, are you ready!? Let's finish him!"

Indra's giant Susanoo came back and lifted him from the ground. (Indra was within the head of the violet-chakra body.) The Susanoo grew back its wings of chakra and its two swords. Then, Indra activated the special power of his mangekyou sharingan.

"Fire-style Susanoo!"

The violet Susanoo turned to orange and the chakra swords were covered by fire.

To accompany his brother, Ashura unleashed his full chakra mode, which looked a lot like Naruto's tailed beast mode, but it wasn't a fox. It resembled Indra's Susanno much more, and its face was closer to a human's face. Ashura's giant chakra body was yellow too, like Naruto's giant fox of chakra.

The Snake King's two blades returned to his hands. He knew that he would need them for these two "big" opponents that matched his size with their chakra bodies. Furthermore, light was the weakness of darkness and vice versa. Therefore, the blade of light and the blade of darkness were the ideal weapons to use against Zet and Su. And they would come in handy for the other two as well.

The Snake King aimed the fire tornado from his mouth at them.

This was it. The battle that marked the final destruction of the coliseum began…

How was it all going to end?

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Otsutsukis versus the Snake King


	50. Ch50: The Otsutsukis vs The Snake King

**CHAPTER 50: The Otsutsukis versus The Snake King**

The Snake King unleashed his horizontal fire tornado aimed at Indra's fire-style Susanoo and at Ashura's yellow-chakra giant. Before it reached them, the orange Susanoo jumped into the sky with its wings. Ashura's giant made a large yellow shield to block the attack. Zet left their side and began to get closer to the Snake King's location, running from the left side of the arena. He looked very small in comparison to the dark king and the other two chakra giants. However, thanks to the powers that he had gained from Spiral, he also had deadly abilities that could compete in this battle—the same ones he used to destroy Maida's village in the future. The same could be said about Su, who had gained the full power of the black guardian…

As soon as the horizontal fire tornado clashed with Ashura's shield, it was obvious that the shield wasn't going to last long. This chakra attack was not like others. Its power was being augmented by something else, making it worse than a normal attack from a fire-style user. The Snake King didn't have the fruit of chakra, but he could use the fruit of darkness to increase the destructive power of all his other techniques.

Su raised a large black shield in front of Ashura's giant and the Snake King's attack was halted by it. Su's shield removed the added effect of the fruit of darkness from the attack, making it much easier to stop.

"Young Ashura don't waste time blocking his attacks! Most chakra shields are not effective against them. Dodge them all and land your most powerful techniques on him as soon as possible! Zet and I will try to weaken him or delay him so that Indra and you can finish him off!"

The black shield that Su summoned was more effective than Ashura's shield to stop the Snake King's attack, but it faded away too, once the whirlwind of fire was gone. Then, Su began to move towards his former master from the right side of the arena, opposite of Zet. Ashura understood that he really had to use his most powerful techniques against this enemy. This was the only time that he had seen his father being defeated. Obviously, the dark king was powerful, so finishing him off as quickly as possible was their best option to win.

Indra's Susanoo unleashed a massive fire-style cascade from the sky:

"Fire-style jutsu! Grand infernal blaze!"

The attack looked like a giant version of Kagami Uchiha's infernal blaze, since the one doing it was the Susanoo, which was a much larger body than a human. The destructive blaze was going to flood the entire area where the Snake King was standing.

Before the hellish blaze reached the surface, the Snake King dropped the blade of light and the blade of darkness on the sand. He began to create a giant shield of light with the large white auras that appeared around his hands. When Indra's river of fire arrived, the white shield absorbed the whole thing. Then, the shield reverted back into its previous shape, around the Snake King's hands, but now it wasn't a simple white aura anymore. It absorbed Indra's attack, creating four giant balls of fire, two on each hand.

First, the Snake King threw the two balls of fire that were in top of his hands—the two that he wasn't holding. He aimed them perfectly at Zet and Su, even though he wasn't even holding those two inside his hands. After that, he threw the other two that he was holding, as if they were fast-ball pitches. These two went like meteorites towards Indra and Ashura. Without breaking a sweat, the Snake King had absorbed and used Indra's power against all four of them.

Zet and Su used the powers that they had gained after their battle with the guardians. (Their current forms weren't human anymore. They could even enter the ground if it wasn't 100% solid. They were not aging either.) They moved in different directions underground and managed to escape the direct hit of the two fire blasts. Ashura's chakra giant evaded the fireball so fast that it fell down on the sand. Then, the fire bomb that didn't hit Ashura destroyed the other side of the coliseum. Indra also evaded the one that went his way, but he was surprised at how easily his attack was taken advantage of, and how fast that orange ball came his way. This opponent they were facing was pretty powerful…

"So he can even absorb chakra-based attacks? If this is how it's going to be, then long-range combat isn't the way to do it! This has to be done the old-fashioned way!"

Indra's Susanoo held its two fire-style chakra swords, one behind his head and the other in front. Then, it descended on free-fall towards the Snake King, like an orange hawk that resembled a phoenix. The Snake King only had enough time to grab the blade of light from the sand, since the Susanoo stopped him from reaching the blade of darkness. Indra landed in a matter of seconds, way too fast, just like before. However, the Snake King had enough to hold him back with the blade of light. Thanks to it, he managed to stand his ground against Indra's ferocious offensive with the fire-style swords. Indra kept on pushing back the Snake King, but he still didn't feel that he was winning. He had not landed a single strike on the dark king and the blade of light definitely felt more powerful than his fire swords. He had to avoid getting touched by it at all costs…

During Indra's clash in close-range combat with the Snake King, Hagaromo managed to reach the location where he placed the seal of the six paths. He removed the sand and the whole circular figure became fully visible again. It was still there, as if nothing had happened. And it was time to begin its activation. Hagaromo used the rinnegan's conversion technique—the same one he taught Pedro Namikaze. His right eye began to convert its power into natural sage chakra, and Hagaromo began to transfer all of it directly to the special seal. His remaining rinnegan was going to be the price to activate such a powerful sealing technique. Before, he didn't have to make such a sacrifice because he had Ten-Tails (the fruit of chakra's living form); but now, his only way to gather such enormous power was giving up his other special sharingan—which was in its final form since he was a young man.

Hagaromo was feeling pretty weak. It wasn't clear to him if it was due to his bleeding wound or because this was his true human limit. He had not experienced weakness or lack of power since he obtained the Ten-Tails. And he had been its host during his entire adult life. Nonetheless, Hagaromo fought against his own weakness and he continued the process to activate the seal, regardless of what it could represent for his own wellbeing. What could happen to him was not as important as completing the plan for the future. He already knew that in a few minutes his rinnegan would be gone and the grand seal would be ready to be used…

During that moment, Zet and Su came back to the surface. They were getting much closer to the Snake King. Ashura's chakra giant stood up again and new hands of chakra came out from the back of his shoulders. He was about to use some kind of powerful wind-based technique that required all those hands. In the heat of battle, Indra maintained his sword clash with the Snake King in a tie, but, he was about to find out just how serious and dangerous this enemy was…

The Snake King had been pushed back by Indra for a while, but it was partially on purpose. He wanted to grab the blade of darkness and they were going that way. Finally, his empty hand got the chance to grab the blade of darkness from the sand; and Indra also saw the perfect opportunity to strike down the dark king. Using the fire sword on his right hand, Indra was going to halt the blade of darkness; and then, he would have the opening to go through the Snake King's body with his other sword. It was going to be a perfect finishing move. Unfortunately, he didn't know how the blade of darkness worked…

When the Snake King went on to raise the dark blade to land a vertical slash on the Susanoo, Indra raised his Susanoo's right arm to block it with its fire sword. Then, he would finish the Snake King with a forward-moving horizontal strike using the fire sword in his other hand. He knew the dark king wasn't going to move and the opening would stay there because the king would have to continue using the dark blade to block his first fire sword at the same time. Indra planned to execute the two moves with his swords simultaneously. However, in his air of anticipation for victory, he missed a very crucial detail: the Snake King had dropped the blade of light as soon as he grabbed the blade of darkness. It was as if he knew that he had a more lethal weapon to deal with Indra now, so he didn't even need the other one.

Indra was terribly surprised when the dark blade cut through the fire sword of chakra, through the Susanoo's right arm, and through its whole right wing as well. It was exactly like what happened to Sasuke's Susanoo in Hagaromo's vision. The Snake King's black blade could cut through all chakra-based bodies and materials with ease. It could destroy them in the same way that dark-style techniques could destroy other chakra-based techniques. This was also why Su's shield had been more effective than Ashura's to stop the dark king's fire-style attack.

The Snake King evaded and countered Indra's dual move flawlessly with a three-way move of his own. As he cut through the Susanoo's fire sword, he also moved his entire body—which was facing forward—into a sideways position and he grabbed the Susanoo's second arm, while it was coming forward to impale him with the other sword. Indra couldn't go through him as he expected.

Right when the blade of darkness finished cutting down the Susanoo's arm and its right wing, the Snake King dropped the black blade again and grabbed the orange Susanoo's neck with his left hand. He was still holding the Susanoo's remaining arm with his right hand. Then, the Snake King's hands began to get engulfed in a dark aura and he lifted the orange Susanoo from the ground. Indra was in the head of the orange Susanoo—which was a protective chakra giant created by his mangekyou sharingan's power. The Snake King's hands and their darkness began to consume the neck and the other arm, while the Susanoo's feet were meters above the sand. The other fire sword fell down from the Susanoo's remaining hand. Things were beginning to look bad for Indra, and the Snake King knew it.

"You are a powerful and skilled warrior, but you have no idea of what you are fighting against. This is what will bring your demise, young fool. You shouldn't have challenged me without knowing who I am. Now you are finished!"

For some reason, Indra didn't look like someone who saw either defeat or death on the horizon. It was quite the contrary:

"It is ironic, but I was thinking the same exact thing about you, dark fool!"

The Susanoo lifted one of its knees all the way up, crashing it against the Snake King's jaw. Next, it precipitated the other knee right into the stomach. That was enough for the Snake King to let go of his grip. Indra's Susanoo fell in the ground and it grabbed the remaining fire sword with its mouth. Then, it struck the Snake King's body with the entire sword, just like it did before, when it saved Hagaromo and Ashura. The strike was so strong that it destroyed the entire fire-style sword… but Indra didn't stop there. Just like before, he continued. The Susanoo landed a hook kick on the bald king's head as well. Clearly, Indra wasn't one of the top warriors from the Otsutsuki Clan for nothing…

Indra's reaction was awe-inspiring, but not as damaging as it looked. A different opponent would have been knocked out after that. However, this was the body of the former Guardian from the Zeta Realm, the body of Kusanagi—the one that protected the three holy fruits of power, which were considered the greatest treasures of their realm. His body had been created with the powers of the three fruits combined, so it was far tougher than what a giant human of that size would be…

The Snake King couldn't avoid Indra's kick to his head. However, it gave him the chance to grab the orange Susanoo's opposite leg. Once he got a hold of it, he threw Indra and the Susanoo violently towards the closest standing edge of the coliseum's structure. The Susanoo crashed heavily with the building and all of it fell down on Indra. Then, the Snake King began to make a growing sphere of darkness between his two hands. It kept on growing until it had a width of seven meters. When the growth stopped, he launched it towards Indra, whom was still half-trapped in the spot where the Susanoo collided with the structure.

"Dark-style energy-bomb!"

The dark bomb reminded Indra of Ashura's chakra bomb right away. It was the attack from Ashura's chakra giant that had beaten him and his Susanoo before. If it was that powerful, then it was something that could kill him if it landed directly on him. He had to avoid it at all costs.

The sphere wasn't moving even 20 percent as fast as Ashura's chakra bomb, but the Susanoo was still trapped. Indra saw no time to escape it; therefore, he used his mangekyou sharingan again—this time to regenerate the Susanoo's right arm and its right wing. The Susanoo pushed the debris apart and stood up exactly when the bomb arrived. Indra had no chance to jump away before it got there, but at least, his Susanoo was able to hold it back with its two hands. Indra was inside the Susanoo's head, so the dark bomb didn't reach him. However, it began to consume the Susanoo's hands and its two arms. Obviously, the orange giant wasn't going to last much longer. And the dark bomb was as deadly against chakra as the blade of darkness itself.

Indra had to act quickly. Now, he knew that they would only be able to defeat this enemy with their most powerful abilities. Anything below that probably wasn't going to work with this guy.

The orange Susanoo pushed Indra upwards and out of its head. Indra went flying up like an arrow because of the massive force of the push. As soon as Indra left it, the orange giant became lifeless, as if its real life-force had left it behind. Then, the dark bomb covered the Susanoo and provoked a huge explosion, when it clashed with the remainders of the destroyed building there.

Indra went up to an incredible height, and when he stopped moving up, he unleashed his sharingan's special power once again:

"Lightning-style Susanoo!"

Like Sasuke Uchiha, Indra's innate elements for chakra techniques were fire and lightning. Moreover, his strongest style was lightning—just like Sasuke…

A light-blue Susanoo, which looked very similar to the fire-style Susanoo, began to materialize around Indra. Indra stayed in its head, just like before, and the Susanoo's wings kept him airborne. However, something unexpected happened to Indra. He felt a powerful pain on his mangekyou sharingans and blood began to come out from the right one. This meant that his special powers were not going to last much longer. He had to land his ultimate technique—the giant lightning arrow—on the Snake King before it was too late…

When Indra was still fighting against the dark bomb that destroyed his orange Susanoo, Zet and Su got close enough to the Snake King to join the battle. They saw what Ashura was doing, so they chose to support him.

Zet summoned Spiral's "mad growth forest" around and below the Snake King's legs. This was the same strange technique that Spiral used against Hokage Naruto, during Hagaromo's vision from the alternate future. It was a battalion of white branches, like the ones he would use at Maida's village in the future. The branches grabbed the Snake King's legs and continued growing in spiral patterns.

At the same time, Su used the dark prison jutsu, which summoned two dark-style boxes on the sides of the Snake King's body. The boxes glued themselves to the Snake King's rib cage and began to form a dark ring around it. The ring's purpose was to stop the movement of the target's body. Su planned to stop the Snake King from leaving that spot long enough for Ashura's attack to land on him.

While Zet and Su's powers of the guardians were on display, five giant yellow portals began to appear around the Snake King. They looked like the ones that Ashura had used in his first battle with the earth sage, Pedro Namikaze. Ashura's chakra giant had been preparing five massive chakra shurikens (or giga-rasenshurikens, like Naruto's). There were five other yellow portals around Ashura's giant as well. What was about to happen there was obvious. Even the Snake King figured it out pretty fast.

Instead of attacking Zet and Su, the Snake King wasted no time and he summoned two hands of sand that brought back the blade of darkness and the blade of light to his hands. He didn't even try to break the multitude of branches that were holding his legs or the black ring around his ribs. He knew he could destroy those easily later. He also knew that he had to block the upcoming attack from the portals no matter what.

Ashura unleashed his first massive technique at that instant:

"Five-edged Sun of chakra! Planetary chakra-shuriken!"

With its hands of chakra, Ashura's giant introduced the five giant shurikens into his five portals and they came out from the other five portals, ready to clash on the Snake King. The Snake King only had enough time to unite his two blades, before the five great chakra shurikens fell on him. At the center of the five portals, and where the Snake King was, the shurikens joined forces and they began to form what looked like a Sun of chakra. It continued spinning fast and it became gargantuan in size.

Eventually, Ashura's ultimate chakra-shuriken produced an explosion there and it began to fade away. Zet and Su almost got caught in the explosion, but thanks to their non-human abilities, they avoided it underground. After that, they came back to the surface again.

There was a lot of sand and dust around the Snake King, so the attack's impact wasn't visible right away…

At that moment, Hagaromo was almost finished transferring the rinnegan's full power to the seal of the six paths. In just a couple of minutes, he would be able to activate it. Therefore, he reminded Indra and Ashura about it, one final time:

"The Snake King must be at the center of the coliseum to use the seal of the six paths on him. Soon, it will be ready."

Although they were feeble, Hagaromo's words reached Indra and Ashura via telepathy. The other rinnegan would be gone soon, so even that simple ability wasn't going to be possible for Hagaromo anymore…

Ashura didn't think that the seal of the six paths would be necessary, after his last attack. However, when the winds dissipated the dust, the reality became clear to Ashura.

The Snake King had used his twilight shield, like he did before to block and destroy Hagaromo's strongest attack. Ashura's offensive destroyed the twilight shield, but it only reached the dark king's body at the very end, when it was over. It barely did anything to him!

Ashura was shocked with the outcome. Now, he really knew what they were fighting against. It was likely that only a direct hit from Indra's arrow and a direct blast with his chakra bomb would work to destroy the Snake King. Otherwise, their father's seal was the best plan. Ashura believed in Indra's power and his own though, so his chakra giant began to prepare the bomb right away. From the looks of it, Indra's lightning Susanoo was preparing the grand lightning arrow as well. They would do it. Ashura and Indra believed in their power!

When the spinning Sun of chakra was completely gone, the few remains of the twilight shield gathered around the Snake King's hands and they began to form two gray spheres. From them, dozens of gray shadow-clones began to come out. These "twilight clones" had the powers of both types of clones from before. They could move freely through the air, like the white mages of light, and they had black swords to attack, like the dark clones that wounded Hagaromo. They and their weapons were created from the combined powers of the fruits of light and darkness. In essence, they were both—the clones of light and the clones of darkness united—in one. Therefore, these new clones were not weak against the light-style or the dark-style. The original guardians and the two followers that gained their power—Zet and Su—were weak against either light, darkness, or this unique "twilight" element that combined the power of both. (The Zeta-style from the Zeta Realm was also known as the twilight-style by other sources. Its use was banned. Its techniques were forbidden because they altered reality in improper ways that blended light and darkness to accomplish it. Almost no one could use them anymore and they had not been taught for decades, so the leaders of the Zeta Realm believed that those ancient "twilight" techniques would be gone for good…)

At first, Zet and Su thought that they would have to fight the twilight clones, but the clones were not for them. The Snake King wasn't a fool. He knew what they were doing and he knew that the other two were a bigger threat for him. Therefore, he aimed for the fastest way to defeat his four opponents, beginning with the two more powerful ones. The twilight clones went after Indra's Susanoo, in the air, and the Snake King was going to take care of the yellow-chakra giant, on the other side of the coliseum.

The dark king looked around for Yuvol, but the white snake was nowhere to be seen. Therefore, he couldn't summon his original sword, the Sword of Kusanagi (Kusanagi was the original name of this powerful giant that was now the Snake King). He used his second best choice then: the twilight blade. Essentially, it was a hybrid of the blades of light and darkness—just like the twilight clones were hybrids of the two previous types that appeared.

Thirty twilight clones were created and all of them went after Indra. Half of them made a large circle around Indra's lightning Susanoo and unleashed the same technique that the clones of light used around Hagaromo before. The other half waited to attack Indra, after the field of light was casted around him. Indra was almost done with preparing the giant lightning arrow. He couldn't stop it to get rid of the clones because he would have to start it all over again. What mattered to him was landing that arrow on the Snake King at all costs. However, when the twilight clones activated their field, he lost his sight of what was happening below and he began to see white light everywhere. He also perceived that some of the clones would attack him, even though he wasn't seeing them.

The others went into the field ready to attack Indra and his Susanoo. They could see him, but he wasn't seeing them. Indra's Susanoo released a massive surge of electricity that held them all back. He wasn't reaching the ones that were keeping the field of light active though…

Ashura finished his bomb of chakra and the yellow giant held it with the two hands it had in front. He also noticed Indra's situation above. His elder brother almost had the grand arrow ready, but the clones were holding him back. He had to help him! Ashura was certain that the powers of the chakra bomb and the arrow together would be more than enough to destroy the Snake King. This was possible, but first, Indra had to break out from the field of light. Otherwise, he couldn't aim the arrow at the Snake King.

Suddenly, a twilight portal appeared in front of Ashura's chakra giant. It was gray, but it felt just like the initial dark-violet portal from where the Snake King came from. Ashura's instant reaction was to look at where the Snake King was; and he saw that there was another large gray portal there. However, the dark king wasn't there anymore. This worked like Ashura's special technique with portals; and when Ashura noticed it, it was already too late…

The twilight blade came from the gray portal and went through the body of the yellow giant. The Snake King came out of the portal with it. He was holding the sword and his hands were covered by gray auras as well. He let go of the twilight sword and it remained stuck in the yellow giant's body. Half of it was visible from each side of Ashura's giant. The sword also began to destroy the yellow chakra that Ashura's giant was made of.

As soon as the Snake King impaled the chakra giant, he left the twilight sword behind and made a shape with his hands and fingers that looked as if he was about to use both of them for knife-hand strikes. It was worse than that though. With one hand he penetrated and held the chakra bomb that Ashura's giant was holding. The gray aura around the hand seemed to have a neutralizing effect over the bomb. The other hand went straight for the chakra giant's face. He was going to grab Ashura and he would remove him from the protective chakra body. He expected that this action would put an end to the chakra giant immediately. And he would kill one of his two powerful opponents in one shot.

The surprise attack on Ashura didn't go exactly as the Snake King expected though…

The yellow giant had more than two hands, and until now, he was showing only two of them. The other four were hiding behind its shoulders. Ashura had very little time to think, so he didn't hesitate. There was no time for hesitation in a situation like this. Two hands of chakra came from the giant's back and grabbed the Snake King's second hand-knife, before it reached the face. Since the twilight sword was already destroying the chakra giant, Ashura turned the bottom half of the body into yellow-chakra clones that looked just like him and sent them to help Indra. Then, Ashura revealed his biggest surprise: he had been preparing two chakra bombs since the beginning. The first one was neutralized, but the second one was still ready. And he used it, before the top half of the chakra giant crumbled:

"Take it! This is for what you did to my father earlier!"

The last two hands came from the back holding the other chakra bomb. They crashed the heavy-looking chakra sphere on the Snake King and it exploded right away, all over the dark king. The explosion was unlike anything we have seen. It was yellow and very intense. Its blast also reached what was left of Ashura's giant; and it almost reached Hagaromo's location. Luckily, it didn't get to the holy sage…

Ashura's yellow clones broke the circular formation that the enemy's clones were keeping around Indra's Susanoo. Indra regained his normal vision, but he couldn't see the outcome of what happened below right away, because the bomb lifted an enormous cloud of sand on the coliseum. However, he saw Ashura's yellow clones fighting against the twilight clones, so he knew that Ashura had survived. Because of that view, he also realized that their true enemy had to be a human, just like them. The real enemy surely resembled the twilight clones and their cloaks in appearance, just like the chakra clones resembled his brother Ashura. "He" was also using a much larger and stronger body for combat, in the same way as they did with the chakra giant and the Susanoo. However, this enemy was on a different level than them because his other body was real. It wasn't a body of chakra or a product of the mangekyou sharingan's power. It wasn't like theirs, which were just extensions of their own power. It was a different body under the full control of the same person…

Was that part of what the great fruits of power were capable of?

The cloud of sand began to fade away quickly. Ashura was lying on the sand, approximately, one soccer field of distance from where his bomb's blast took place. He was still inside the coliseum. He wasn't too hurt because his chakra giant pushed him out in time, just like Indra's orange Susanoo did before its destruction. Therefore, the actual blast didn't catch him. The landing was still very abrupt though; and he had used too much chakra to accomplish what he had done. He knew he would be able to get up again, but he didn't have enough chakra to create any other powerful attack like those. He used his chakra mode at its maximum level to pull out what he did there. Now… it was up to Indra…

The Snake King was still standing, even after that huge direct blast. Half of his left arm was gone and the left side of his body was bleeding all over the place. Part of his armor was gone as well. The other side of his upper body had suffered damage too, but it wasn't bleeding at all. Apparently, his head and his legs were fine, even though they were close to the explosion too.

He was still very alive, although that attack had been truly lethal—even for the former guardian of the fruits of power.

Zet and Su came back to the surface after the chakra bomb's explosion. They quickly realized that Indra also had an attack of this caliber, so this was their best chance to eliminate their most powerful obstacle.

They got very close to the Snake King and both used their powerful branch-growth technique together. Zet's branches were white, like Spiral's. Su's branches were very similar, but darker, like the branches that guardian Black could summon from beneath the surface. Both types of branches grabbed and held the Snake King's legs again. Then, Zet stood tall in front of the king. He had never seen the dark king in a worse condition than this, so he began to believe that their victory was guaranteed. And being the proud bad guy that he was, he obviously had to put himself on a pedestal before sealing the deal:

"I bet you never thought that this day would come: the day when you would be defeated, even with all the great powers that you have. It turns out that even you are not fully prepared to counter the full power of your guardians and the greatest warriors from Kaguya's bloodline."

The Snake King was going to heal himself first, but Zet's arrogant words angered him, and he did something else.

"You talk big words for someone who would still be an ordinary human sage if it wasn't for me and my guardians. I see that you two still believe that you can beat me. I shall teach you a final lesson about power. You will see how far below me you still are."

The Snake King summoned a pillar of sand that lifted the remaining piece of the twilight sword from the ground. Even after he grabbed it with the hand that wasn't destroyed, Zet and Su still looked like they were seeing victory in their side. The dark king attempted to land strikes on them with the broken sword, but all of them failed. Zet and Su—just like Black and Spiral—could easily enter the ground when it wasn't 100% solid. The sand there made it very easy for them to avoid any attack that didn't penetrate the ground.

Finally, they saw their chance to finish the dark lord once and for all. Su used the dark ring of immobility, as soon as the Snake King lifted his hand and the broken sword above his head. The dark-style technique made one black ring and four black lances around the Snake King's wrist. The lances pierced the ring and the wrist to keep it in place. This couldn't immobilize the hand completely, but it slowed down the whole arm considerably. It ensured that the sword wasn't going to strike the ground fast again—unless the binding technique was destroyed first.

Su said the only words he had for the Snake King during that whole showdown. From the ones present, he was the one that had known him for the longest time. He had been one of the dark lord's first followers from the Second Human Realm.

"To think that even Goddess Kaguya couldn't kill you, but we are the ones who will is such a great irony. This is it for you Snake King, Master H, or whatever you real name is."

Zet saw a complete opening and went on to do what he had been wanting to do for a while:

"Have a taste of your own guardian's full power! Rise, Spiral's tree of death!"

Zet placed his hands on the sand. Then, a large and grotesque-looking tree of wild branches came from the sand, behind the Snake King. (This was the same "tree of death" that Spiral used during the tragic incident with Rin Nohara in Naruto Shippuden.)

The tree's top took the shape of a spine and it pierced the Snake King like a sword. It went through the dark king's stomach and, after it pierced him, it continued growing, until it reached Zet. It was another lethal attack, but the Snake King was still on his feet. He didn't seem as mighty anymore though. However, he still looked as if he saw himself on the winning side of the balance:

"You two became much more powerful thanks to Black and Spiral, but you are still mistaken if you believe that my guardians' techniques are enough to defeat me!"

Zet smiled.

"You are the one mistaken. Indra's arrow is what will kill you, not your guardian's technique. Mark my words, it won't defeat you, it will kill you."

Zet pointed to the sky above the coliseum and behind the Snake King. Indra's giant arrow of lightning was ready. Indra just had to get the remaining twilight clones out of his way and he would have a clear path to shoot it.

The Snake King saw the lightning Susanoo and the upcoming attack. For the first time, he truly saw himself in danger. Without even thinking, he unleashed one of his most powerful attacks, using the combined powers of light, darkness, and lightning-style chakra. He avoided using his full power before to keep his pride high—if he used it, it meant that someone was getting close to being his equal, even without the fruits of power. However, this situation demanded it.

A white and bright light came from the Snake King's open hand and rose many meters above him. This happened at the same moment when Hagaromo finished the transfer of the rinnegan's chakra to the seal of the six paths. Indra also had his arrow aimed at the Snake King. Hagaromo's last rinnegan disappeared, leaving both of his eyes as they were when he was a kid (they were dark-green before he had the sharingan and the rinnegan). Now, he was a normal human, but he still had the ability to activate the seal that could stop the Snake King…

Hagaromo was on his knees, ready to activate the seal, and Indra was in the air, ready to shoot the grand arrow, when the Snake King's all-mighty technique was fully released:

"Grand Zeta-style jutsu! Supreme Valhallia!"

The bright light grew and began to cover everything, while dark-looking thunder-like strikes began to fall en masse, within the areas that were beneath the light that covered the whole coliseum.

Hagaromo was stopped by the "Valhallia storm" before he could use his grand sealing technique. However, Indra shot the arrow straight at the Snake King's position before the storm of light and darkness reached his Susanoo:

"This is it! Say goodbye to your behemoth form! Grand lightning arrow!"

The unnatural storm reached Indra and he couldn't see the final outcome of the lightning arrow right away. Nonetheless, the heavy and destructive noise from the arrow's blast left it clear that it had not landed on sand. It hit its target…

What happened to the others wasn't visible right away because the strange storm lasted for seventy seconds, and it took another minute for the intense white light to leave. However, it was visible that Indra's Susanoo fell back down to the surface, after a few black thunders from the storm hit it directly.

Indra's second Susanoo was lost when it hit the surface. It simply began to fade away. It happened not just because it acted as Indra's shield against the storm, but because his mangekyou sharingan eyes couldn't take it anymore. Creating the ultimate lightning arrow put Indra's sharingans at their limit…

Indra and Ashura ended up on the sand, more than fifteen meters away from the spot where the Snake King was. Ashura used his best wind-based shield, but apparently it had not been enough to block the full impact of the storm. Indra was saved by his Susanoo, but his sharingan eyes lost their mangekyou form and blood began to come out from his eyes again—this time from both of them. His vision was cloudy. He knew that he had to stop using them; otherwise, he was running the risk of partial blindness, due to using the sharingan beyond its limits…

When the grand arrow and the lightning storm of light and darkness were gone, the outcome was revealed, at last.

The Snake King was lying on the sand, motionless, with blood everywhere. He attempted to turn the broken twilight sword into another twilight shield, but Indra's arrow was too fast—it reached him before he could do it. The arrow destroyed what was left of the sword with its initial impact and fell on him next, provoking another huge explosion. If something had come close to killing the giant Snake King up to that point, Indra's arrow had to be it. Half of his remaining arm—which he used to block the arrow too—was blown away. The side of his face that was touched by the arrow's lightning was burnt and bloody. The body looked the same way; the parts of it that came in direct contact with the arrow were incinerated. And half of the leg where the arrow landed was completely gone. He wasn't moving at all…

Indra's arrow and Ashura's chakra bomb practically defeated the powerful giant. They were at the same level of the powerful attacks that the host of the fruit of chakra could have done. The main difference was that these "ultimate techniques" were a one-shot-thing for Indra and Ashura. Even at full power, they could not use them again until they recovered completely. Goddess Kaguya and Hagaromo, however, could have repeated them right away because they were the hosts of the fruit of chakra; so they were not going to run out of chakra, like everybody else. (This was what made the Snake King so powerful. He had an endless resource of power for light-style and dark-style techniques of any scale. In addition, the elements of light and darkness had many uses that had nothing to do with attacking. He had an unlimited supply of some of the most useful and powerful techniques…)

However, even with his supreme advantages, the dark king had fallen. Unfortunately, the same happened to the others…

Spiral was the only one there that was left intact. He ran like a madman and, at the end, he still had to use his Spiral shield, which looked like a man-sized shell. Yuvol—the white snake—was freed from Spiral's branches and simultaneously got his tail and his head fried by the Valhallia storm. Unlike Spiral, he didn't have time to put up any special shield. The truth was that Yuvol wasn't that powerful. Besides using rock-style techniques and being able to turn into Master H's Sword of Kusanagi, there wasn't much more he could do. He was no match for the ones involved in this battle…

Zet and Su were the most unlucky ones, at first. The Snake King unleashed the twilight storm with them in mind. He knew that its reach was up to ten meters below the surface, so they would not be able to hide from it anywhere. They were alive, but Zet and Su were left lying on the surface—not far from the Snake King—and they had taken a severe beating from that storm. Even with their regenerating abilities, they couldn't recover from it fast enough…

Ashura and Indra were starting to recover their senses. Both were on the sand, close to each other. Ashura was the one with the best condition because he wasn't affected by the repercussion of using the sharingan eyes. Ashura had normal eyes. He inherited his special chakra mode from birth, just like Hagaromo inherited some of his powers from Kaguya (even before he became the new host of the Ten-Tails). Indra and Ashura couldn't block the storm's impact completely, but they were in better shape than the Snake King and Hagaromo.

Hagaromo was hit pretty hard by the storm. He was lucky because none of the black thunderbolts fell too close to him, but the destructive currents in the air still reached him. He couldn't use a wind-barrier, like Ashura, and he had no sharingans anymore, so he had no Susanoo, like Indra. Zet and Su could regenerate, so the devastating impact on them was nowhere near as lethal as what Hagaromo suffered. He wasn't the host of the fruit of chakra anymore. He was just an old man that could barely move after the harsh effect of those currents on his body. And he still had the bad wound from before…

The situation was critical. Everything was ready for Hagaromo to use the seal of the six paths on the Snake King. The bad news were that he barely had any strength to get up and cast it. Fortunately, it seemed like the dark king had been beaten… wasn't he?

The Snake King was not moving at all and his big eyes were closed. The violet color of the skin around his eyes was flickering though. Something was happening. It felt as if his life force was getting weaker for a moment. Then, someone else appeared there. A two-meter-tall portal of light materialized in front of the Snake King's face and the man of the black cloak walked out of it. He didn't have the black hood on either. However, the angle shown to us only revealed the view behind his face. His face wasn't revealed to us yet. He had green hair, like Zet, and two small horns on the sides of his head, like Kaguya and many of the ancient humans at the Zeta Realm. His hair was longer and darker than Zet's though…

Finally, we heard his real voice for the first time. He sounded like a man close to Pedro Namikaze's age. He also sounded confident, despite what happened there so far:

"I didn't expect that they would be at this level. They must be direct descendants of Kaguya and the Sage of the Six Paths. They must have inherited part of their power too. Still, they are not a problem and I won't lose you here. You will continue to be my most powerful vessel and the almighty king from the Realm of the Snakes. You and I will continue existing as one and the same."

It became clear that "the man of the black cloak" wasn't always the same person in body, but it was the same mind behind the black curtain, each and every time…

Pedro Namikaze had seen some of the other "vessels" in his visions, but he had not seen the real enemy yet…

The green-haired man put on the black hood, covering his head and his face. Then, he lifted his hands and pillars of light began to surround the giant Snake King.

"Zeta-style life-regeneration jutsu! Bring back this body to the way it used to be!"

The parts of the body that were gone began to regenerate and all the wounds started to heal very quickly. In less than two minutes, the dark king's giant body looked as if Indra's arrow and Ashura's bomb had never fallen on it.

Indra noticed what was happening, even with his cloudy vision. His attack succeeded in luring out the real one, as he expected. Unfortunately, his eyes were still hurting too much at that moment. He and Ashura couldn't do anything before the real enemy left.

The man of the black cloak left with the same light and the same portal that brought him. The violet color around the Snake King's eyes stopped flickering after that. Somehow, it felt as if the temporary visitor had never left the place. When the Snake King opened his eyes, the same presence was there again.

The Snake King stood up free of injuries as if the battle had not happened. He quickly noticed where the four that fought him were located. He walked up to Zet and Su first. They had not finished recovering from the damage that the Zeta-style storm did on their special bodies. (The bodies of the guardians were particularly weak against "Zeta," or twilight, techniques. And Zet and Su's bodies were exactly like the bodies of guardians Spiral and Black.)

The Snake King created two spheres on his palms; one was dark, meaning that it was some sort of dark-style technique from the fruit of darkness, and the other was white, because it was made using the fruit of light. Both had some transparent spots, so whatever they had inside would be visible from the outside as well.

The white sphere went up to Su Otsutsuki and picked him up. The dark sphere did the same thing with Zet. Then, both spheres went up and stopped in front of the Snake King's face. Zet and Su tried to do something, but these spheres were meant to obstruct the power of those that were weak against light or darkness. The white sphere stopped Su from using his dark-style techniques. After all, Su's body—or Black—was the product of the fruit of darkness, so almost all his techniques used the dark-style and were weak against light-based powers, like this sphere. Likewise, the dark sphere blocked Zet's attacks, which used either chakra or a mixture of light and darkness. Zet didn't have Spiral's body—like Su had Black's—but his body ended up just like Spiral's anyways. It was made with the fruit of light and with the power of darkness in a 50/50 ratio. Despite that, Spiral was much weaker against the dark-style, so Zet also had this weakness.

Su couldn't do anything, but Zet managed to move inside the sphere—perhaps because he wasn't 100% weak against it. Right away, the Snake King did something that changed the spheres. The white one turned into lances of light and the black one into lances of darkness. Then, all the lances impaled Zet and Su. They looked totally helpless after that attack. They would have died for sure if they had been normal humans—like they were before their battle against Black and Spiral, at the Realm of the Snakes.

The strange lances kept them airborne, until the Snake King grabbed them. Then the lances disappeared. The dark king had Zet in one hand and Su in the other.

"You two must have begun to realize by now that you can't defeat me. Only the host of the fruit of chakra had a chance against me. Besides, you should have known that I wasn't going to create guardians that could beat me easily. You still don't understand the extent of the power I possess."

The Snake King noticed that Ashura and Indra were starting to recover, so he didn't waste his time with these two. He threw Zet and Su to the two opposite edges of the coliseum, causing the final collapse of what was left there. Once again, Zet and Su were lucky because they were not human; otherwise, they would have been dead already.

The Snake King walked up to Indra and Ashura and grabbed them before they could do anything to avoid it. Indra couldn't use the sharingan and he didn't have his two swords with him. Ashura didn't have enough time to activate the eagle sage mode either. The Snake King didn't use spheres or techniques on them. He went straight to grabbing them with his bare hands.

When Hagaromo saw that, he knew that he had to hurry. He had to find the strength to initiate the seal of the six paths that had been completed already. He had to do it not just because the Snake King was now standing at the center of the coliseum and this was their only plausible way to beat him, but because Ashura and Indra's lives were at stake too. Besides, he already knew that this had to be done to save the future. Although, seeing his sons in danger was what pushed him the most, without a doubt.

Unfortunately for him, he had not figured out yet that Zet—the one he saw as "the other" white guardian—was, in fact, his third son, whom had disappeared several years ago. And he didn't know that the "new Black" was his long-lost brother…

The real Snake King had a bit of a bad temper, but he also saw himself as someone that was wise and powerful, so he definitely liked giving his worthy opponents a few final words before he finished them:

"You two must have realized it as well. Under different circumstances and against any other opponent, you would have won and I would be dead now. However, the power of the holy fruits surpasses all; and I possess two out of the three that exist. You can't defeat me, even if all of you are the offspring of former hosts of the fruit of chakra. Your power is not enough to beat its original source. Only the host of the third fruit has a chance, but I have developed the means to defeat such a person as well. And anyone else who tries to stop me will face certain death, like you two."

Indra realized that the Snake King was standing at the very center of the coliseum and he remembered Hagaromo's words. They had to keep the dark king there at all costs. It was their last chance now! Therefore, he started to make small talk to delay things:

"It's so ironic that we would be defeated here, standing at the very center of our own coliseum, a monument of the Otsutsuki Clan. Here, at the same place where we trained so many times, and had so many battles, and learned so many things. Oooh, how tragic this is!"

Immediately, after hearing Indra's words, Ashura realized that the Snake King was at the right location. Maybe, that was why Indra was talking so much crap—that wasn't like him at all, and Ashura knew it. Ashura took a peek at Hagaromo and noticed that he was struggling to do something. They still had one chance left. Thus, Ashura joined Indra in talking clever gibberish—anything as long as they could keep the Snake King exactly where he was.

"To be honest, I don't think I will miss the coliseum. I think it is much more tragic that we were not at a beach or at an amusement park during this defeat…"

The Snake King wasn't in the mood to stand there listening to his opponents' conversations though. He had said what he wanted to say already, so he began to lose his patience with them very quickly. Then, his powerful and angry voice was heard again:

"Shut up already! I thought you two were two serious elite warriors instead of two powerful idiots! You didn't seem this talkative before either. Are you trying to delay your imminent death? There is nothing you can do now!"

Then, the Snake King had a sudden epiphany. He had forgotten completely about the one that had the fruit of chakra before. Hagaromo certainly wasn't dead yet. Besides, why didn't he see Yuvol or Spiral during the long battle he had there? Something didn't feel right. His clever intuition knew it…

He looked around with his eyes, keeping a tight hold of Ashura and Indra. When he spotted Hagaromo, he knew that he had missed something important at some point. Hagaromo had some sort of seal on the ground; thus, something was going to happen there.

Hagaromo was on his knees when he finally did it. He couldn't stand up, but being on his knees was enough to do it. Ashura and Indra gave him enough time and spiritual strength to pull it off. At last, he activated the real seal!

"Seal of the Six Paths! Fire, water, wind, lightning, earth, and life! Carve the seal of our real on him, and vanish him from it forever!"

With the final activation, a new giant tracing of the seal—the same complex sign that Hagaromo had created—revealed its existence on the surface of the entire coliseum. This was something that Hagaromo had been planning for many years. Even the coliseum itself had been built with this in mind. Only he knew about it though…

The giant seal that appeared everywhere on the ground was as large as the coliseum itself, and it looked exactly like Hagaromo's smaller version of it. Apparently, the humongous one was the real deal and the small one that Hagaromo created first was just a key to activate the one on the coliseum.

The giant circle became the new view of the coliseum's ground. It had all the same signs that Hagaromo traced on the small one. The edges of the grand chakra circle appeared below the borders of the coliseum, and the immense amounts of sage chakra that began to flow through them pushed all the destroyed structures out of the way. Then, out of the circle's border, hundreds of hands of chakra came out and grabbed the Snake King. There were hundreds of them, so he couldn't escape them.

The Snake King had to let go of Indra and Ashura. The hands began to immobilize him quickly. They lifted him up and kept him several meters above the ground. Ashura managed to grab Indra and stop their fall with one of his wind-based techniques. Ashura was the first one there that began to get his power back. He couldn't use the chakra giant again, but he knew he could use his eagle sage mode. Indra, on the other hand, didn't seem recovered yet. His eyes went back to normal. And without his mangekyou sharingan, his power was definitely much lower.

The six seals that Hagaromo placed on the Snake King's body—during their battle—began to show up now, on the ground and on the enemy's body as well.

A brown circle with a gorilla's face inside appeared on the Snake King's forehead. An orange circle with a fox's face and a green circle with a human's face appeared on the shoulders. On the legs, the blue slug's circle and the yellow dragon's seal showed up. Then, the eagle's white circle revealed itself on the Snake King's chest. When the dark king noticed this, he finally understood that the whole thing had been a planned trap for him, since the beginning. Someone knew that he would attack them there, before it happened. However, many things were unclear… How could Hagaromo know that he would attack them that day and at that time? And how did the old sage have so much power left to pull this off?! He didn't even have the fruit of chakra anymore!

Obviously, there was much more about Hagaromo than what the Snake King knew…

The six seals on the Snake King were united with their replicas on the ground by the currents of chakra that flowed through the whole thing. (All of that sage chakra came from the conversion of the rinnegan eye. The Snake King didn't know that a final sharingan could be that powerful. In fact, he didn't even know that a sharingan eye could have such power, until Sasuke Uchiha defeated his top human vessel in the future, many decades later...)

When all the currents of chakra were united, they began to form a new seal on the Snake King. The new sign looked like the seal for the Human Realm (not the Zeta Realm, but Naruto and Hagaromo's Human Realm). [Just like the Earth Realm had a seal, which was required to travel to it, the other realms had their own seals as well. And they could be used for more than just teleportation-based travel. An example of this was what Hagaromo did using the seal of the six paths…]

The Snake King began to fear the worst when he saw that. He remembered that Hagaromo said it would "vanish him forever." The Snake King used his full strength and, to everyone's surprise, he began to overcome the hold of the grand seal. No one was supposed to be able to do such a thing. However, he was still moving very slow. He wasn't going to break out of it easily.

Ashura realized that someone had to hold him back. Otherwise, one of his hands or one of his legs would break free and the seal would not be successful. However, how would he do that without the chakra giant? After all, the Snake King was a giant too, so holding him wasn't that simple.

Hagaromo didn't look as worried as Ashura because, even though he had not seen every detail, he already knew that the Snake King's "new guardians" would betray him until the end. Although, he still didn't know who they really were…

Zet and Su came back and used their abnormal growth of branches from the ground to hold the Snake King again. Not finishing them earlier had been a mistake that the dark king was going to regret for sure…

Hagaromo had not seen what would happen next. He just knew that things would work out in the long-run, based on the events that he was able to see. He also knew that he was the only one that didn't make it alive out of that conflict... What was going to happen to him and when? He didn't know it. Hagaromo's special sharingan saw many things, but it didn't see everything; and his visions didn't show him all the details that mattered either. That was the real weakness of his special sharingan. Even though it saw the future and its possible paths, it never saw all the details and it could only see what happened at the Second Human Realm, not at the others. Therefore, flaws in Hagaromo's plan for the future could happen and not all of his decisions were necessarily the best ones… only time would tell their true outcome…

In his desperation, the Snake King created a giant sphere of light and darkness that looked a lot like Ashura's chakra bomb, but it was much larger. It began to appear above his hands, which had been pushed up by the power of the seal. He couldn't throw it at the coliseum because it would destroy him too; and he had difficulty to aim it because he could barely move his hands. Despite his limitations, he managed to give it a small push that started its trajectory towards the right place. Ashura got very worried when he noticed that the direction was where the Otsutsuki Clan was located, just a few miles away from there.

The Snake King thought that this was his way to escape. He talked directly to Hagaromo:

"You are going to have to choose between saving your people or defeating me. They don't have much time left now, so you better think and act quickly, if you want to save them. I can make the giant twilight bomb go away now, but first you have to stop this sealing technique."

Zet and Su got worried because they knew that this was their best opportunity to defeat the dark lord. They didn't care about the people at the Otsutsuki Clan. What mattered to them was getting what they wanted. And for that, Hagaromo couldn't let go of the seal.

On the other hand, Ashura and Indra worried about their clan and about their friends and families there. Indra felt very frustrated. There wasn't much he could do. Without the sharingan and the Susanoo, he couldn't even make it on time, and much less stop that thing.

Ashura asked Hagaromo to end it:

"Father! Please, stop the seal! We need to destroy that sphere, or else everyone will die!"

Hagaromo was serious and very clear about what was more important:

"I can't do that Ashura. If this doesn't succeed, there will be no future for our world. If this doesn't happen, it won't be just our clan, everything else will be destroyed as well."

"How can you say that!? Don't you care about your people!? Or are your visions of the future more important than us!? I won't let this happen!"

When the Snake King heard Ashura's words, he figured out that the Sage of the Six Paths could see some events from the future. It was the only way to explain how this elaborate trap was waiting for him there. And it really wasn't too surprising for him, because, if the fruit of darkness gave him the power to possess others and even a timeless realm of his own (the "Possession" Realm), then, it made sense that the owner of the fruit of chakra would have some power that was at that kind of level as well…

Ashura became an eagle sage and left the coliseum in a hurry. He flew past the great twilight sphere, which was just two miles away from the clan. He could feel its power and he knew that the eagle sage mode wasn't going to be enough to stop it. He couldn't summon the chakra giant or make full use of the chakra mode, but there was something else that he could do. There was a special and forbidden sage mode that rivaled even his father's power. It was the human sage mode that used the eight inner chakra gates of the body. He didn't have much time, so he chose to use it.

Besides having the eagle sage mode active, Ashura began to open the inner chakra gates one by one, until he opened the seventh one. Hagaromo never taught him how to open the final one because he thought that Ashura could end up doing something crazy like this—and he was right. Ashura pushed towards the eight one, but seven open gates were already too much for him; and the power he felt was already unbelievable, so he made his move, before it was too late.

He was engulfed by a large mass of green-looking sage chakra. It had the same color as the seal of life that had the face of the human from the Zeta Realm. Without too much thinking, Ashura's green aura clashed with the sphere in the sky. He did it from below, hoping to either destroy it or change its course towards the atmosphere.

Everyone felt the powerful clash. The Snake King was surprised; he didn't expect that people that didn't have the fruits of power would be capable of these things. Hagaromo couldn't hold a few tears because he knew what would happen to Ashura after that. Ashura would survive, but he was going to feel the worst pain of his life, possibly for months. Nonetheless, Hagaromo never let go of the seal of the six paths. He never stopped it. His only consolation was that the realm would be saved and only he wasn't going to make it. He also knew that the "fruit of chakra" was going to be safe divided into nine different parts…

After the grand clash, the sphere's path was pushed upwards, meaning that it would not hit the ground. Ashura lost all his chakra and his power, all of a sudden, and he began to fall down half-conscious. He had never done anything like that before, but it was a success. He expected to die after that final fall. However, he was saved by other wind-style user before he reached the ground. It was his uncle and Hagaromo's fraternal twin, Hamura Otsutsuki. He arrived in time with many others from their clan.

Once the sphere of light and darkness reached a high-enough altitude, it exploded and its explosion was devastating. It would have destroyed their entire clan for sure, if it had landed there.

Ashura had to be taken to the medical ninjas at the clan right away. It wasn't clear whether he was going to survive—but we already knew he would make it. Hamura knew that something very serious and dangerous was happening at the coliseum, if even Hagaromo had not been able to stop it. He and the other elite warriors from the Otsutsuki Clan ran towards the coliseum, which was miles away from them. Hagaromo and Indra were still there…

After that, the Snake King knew that Hagaromo wasn't going to free him easily from the seal, so he threatened him with something else:

"Son of Kaguya, if you don't release me from this now, I will guarantee the death of your other son before this ends!"

Hagaromo already knew that both Indra and Ashura were going to make it and they were going to live for many more years, so he ignored the dark king's words. Then, the Snake King used the power of the fruit of darkness to cast his own seal of darkness on Indra. (It looked like Orochimaru's seal of the three black commas, seen in the Naruto series.) Three black commas, with the same shape as the ones on the Snake King's forehead, appeared on Indra's left leg.

Nothing happened at first, but Hagaromo knew how malign that was. As a child, he was one of the few that witnessed Kaguya's grand battle with the Snake King, during the war with the snakes; and he still remembered how the Snake King casted that seal on her when he was losing the battle.

Hagaromo believed that the dark seal of the three commas was what changed Kaguya's stability after that battle. Possibly, it was the force that led Ten-Tails to take over her. She never had problems to control it before, but, after that battle, things were never the same again. Hagaromo feared that the same thing would happen to Indra because of that seal. Naturally, he had never seen this particular event in his visions of what would happen…

Nothing was changing there though. The Snake King still saw himself trapped and the seal of the Human Realm was almost finished on him. He feared what would happen next, so he used his full strength and power to break free. Zet and Su got quite alarmed when he began to move a little more, even with all the branches and the hands of chakra from the seal that were still holding him.

At that point, Yuvol came from beneath a pile of sand and he didn't even look at the Snake King. He started to make his escape right away. He saw that the initial dark portal—from where the Snake King came from when Pedro Namikaze left—was ten percent of its original size now, but it was still there. Therefore, the open path to the Realm of the Snakes wasn't gone yet. Yuvol began to move towards it with haste. He could still save his own tail if he got there before the portal was gone…

It was at that same moment that the Snake King experienced his biggest surprise so far:

A thin and long white branch, which was shaped like a lethal sword, impaled him through the very center of the heart. The deadly branch came from behind. It was Spiral's doing! The dark king couldn't struggle anymore after that. And Spiral had his first epiphany:

"I see now why you always kept Yuvol hiding as a backup. It certainly gave you the upper hand in situations like this. You could still win, even if you had lost already. Unfortunately, it works on you too."

The Snake King never saw that coming, so his anger exploded:

"You-u?! Do you have any idea of what you are doing, you fo-ool!"

"Yes, I actually do. I am going to stay here with them, and it would be very convenient if you can't put a foot here ever again. Just like you, I realized that this human world is much more fun than seeing rocks, dry caves, and fat snakes all day long, every day. I hate it! So I am going to stay here and you won't be able to stop it. I am done following you and that good-for-nothing snake!"

After that, it was obvious that the real Spiral wasn't a fool. He just sounded like one half of the time. He was also as powerful as Zet and Su, as far as we know. Perhaps, he could even become a bigger threat than them… There is no doubt that one of Zet and Su's biggest mistakes over the century that followed was underestimating the real power of their "third wheel," Spiral…

Yuvol reached the portal that brought them there. It was shrinking, meaning that the Snake King was losing power and the time to return was running out quickly. Yuvol didn't think twice. He jumped into the small dark-violet oval before it was completely gone. Saving his own skin was more important to him than saving "the master."

The Snake King noticed when Yuvol escaped. The seal was also finishing its completion on him. He probably only had one minute left before the seal's effect could take place. There was only one thing left for him to do: expose his real self to stop Hagaromo.

The same white portal of light from before appeared just three meters away from Hagaromo, whom was still on his knees holding the seal. And the same green-haired man of the black cloak came from it. This time he had the black hood on and he was holding human-sized versions of the blade of darkness and the blade of light, just like his "vessel" did in the battles with Sasuke and Hokage Naruto, in Hagaromo's vision of the alternate future.

As soon as he got there, he attacked Hagaromo with an X-shaped slash, using the two blades. He was going to repeat the same attack aimed at Hagaromo's neck. However, his hands and arms were held back and stopped before he could complete the movement. The smaller blades of light and darkness were stopped cold at the sides of Hagaromo's head. And the real Snake King couldn't kill Hagaromo. He was very surprised at first:

"What is going on!? Why do I feel just like I felt in the giant body that is caught under the seal!?"

Hagaromo answered and his upper body fell to the ground afterwards:

"The seal of the six paths affects the main body and any other body that is connected to it at the location where the seal is being used. Thank you for coming, Snake King."

When Hagaromo fell down, the human Snake King noticed that the grand seal was completed and it had appeared on his true self as well. In other words, the seal of the six paths was present on the entire coliseum, on the giant king, on his true human self, and also in front of Hagaromo, on the sand. The small one in front of Hagaromo wasn't just a key to activate the whole thing. It did to the human enemy what the one on the entire coliseum did to the giant one.

Indra saw the real enemy standing in front of his father and he knew that this was his last chance to do something. He was seeing better already, even though his sharingan wasn't back yet. The cursed seal of the three commas made him feel a little strange—a little different perhaps—but it wasn't stopping him from doing anything. He managed to prepare a small one-foot-long arrow of lightning. This one wasn't even one percent as powerful as the giant arrow from before; nonetheless, it still had potential to be lethal. From the spot where he was lying on the sand, Indra shot the arrow straight at the man of the black cloak that was facing the opposite way. It hit him right below the neck, on the spine.

The human Snake King was caught by surprise and the electric shock made him fall to the ground. The small hands of chakra continued holding his arms and legs, but they didn't stop his body from falling down. On the way down, his hood was pushed back completely. Unfortunately, we still saw him only from a back-side view, so his long green hair was the only thing visible.

Ironically, he and Hagaromo ended up side-by-side on the sand, with their faces facing each other. Who would have thought that?

Hagaromo was one of the very few people that knew what truly happened in the ancient past, before Kaguya became "the Goddess" and before he was born. However, even he didn't know the entire story. And whoever-this-guy-was surely knew about it. Hagaromo seemed a little surprised when he first saw the enemy's human face. Regardless, he had to ask:

"What is your connection to Kaguya? Why are you doing all of this? And, why do you still look so young?"

Clearly, it wasn't the first time that Hagaromo had seen that face…

The human Snake King was aggravated and hostile after that arrow hit him. His movement was still blocked by the hands of the seal though.

"I don't have to tell you my secrets 'holy sage.' What are you going to accomplish with this seal that you placed on me? Whatever it is, you must be less smart than Kaguya if you think this will be enough to stop me."

"My seal will ensure that you and your most powerful body won't put your feet on this realm again. Any technique that you use to come back to this world will not work. And if you ever find a way to come back, it will be to face your true end at the hands of the saviors from the future."

The human Snake King laughed at Hagaromo's words, while he and his giant counterpart began to disappear. He also said a few final words before he was gone for good:

"You won this battle, Hagaromo Otsutsuki, but not the war. Remember about what happened after I fought your goddess. Fighting me brought her downfall. The same will happen to you, or at least, to your son, because my dark seal works a lot like yours. It is permanent. Besides, I haven't aged a bit since I obtained the fruit of light, so I will outlive all of you anyways. Rest assured that I will find a way to come back. I still need the fruit of chakra, which is here, in this realm…"

The giant Snake King and the green-haired human of the black cloak disappeared. The completed seal took them back to the Realm of the Snakes and took away their ability to travel directly to the Second Human Realm…

Spiral could barely believe it. The Snake King wasn't dead, but if he couldn't come back, then, they had truly won. Zet and Su, on the other hand, were not too surprised. Zet, in particular, didn't look too happy:

"As always, he had to be the winner. Even without one rinnegan, the owner of the fruit of chakra, the Sage of the Six Paths, the Ten-Tails' jinchuuriki, Hagaromo Otsutsuki, still wins. It's always him and his cursed Ten-Tails beast."

Su was in a much better mood, even if his voice sounded treacherous:

"We have been lucky Zet. Thanks to their help, we succeeded at defeating the Snake King. We may not have to worry about him again."

Spiral's mood and his voice changed to their usual state—mostly childish and foolish.

"Zet, Su, where are we going now? Should I lead the way? Can we go anywhere I want!? Ple-e-ease!"

Zet didn't sound like someone who had just won. He sounded angry:

"Spiral, you are not the boss here and I can destroy you with that technique he taught me, if you ever give me trouble. If you really want to join us, you will have to work for us. Now… there is something I must do. I have waited years for this moment to arrive…"

Zet left Su and Spiral and he began to walk towards Hagaromo. On his way there, he raised his hands while he walked past Indra. He couldn't afford to get attacked by Indra during "the process," so he trapped him with three branches and used a fourth one to bury Indra's face on the ground, while Indra talked. Indra barely had time to say something:

"What are you doing!? You traitorous bastard-d-d!"

When Zet stopped walking, he was in front of Hagaromo. Hagaromo was still alive, but in critical condition on the sand. Zet revealed his intentions, while a bunch of white branches lifted Hagaromo from the sand:

"It's time to extract the power of the fruit of chakra and pass it on to a new host, which will be me, the son that never got anything from you, until now."

Hagaromo heard Zet's words and finally recognized his face. It was then that the Sage of the Six Paths realized his mistake. And it was too late to change anything. His plans to save the future never took into account that "the second white guardian" was, in fact, his lost son. He missed that important detail because it was never a direct revelation in his visions. And missing that fact made the future worse because Zet was one of the biggest villains of that future. If Hagaromo had known it before, all of that suffering could have been avoided. What else could he have missed?

NEXT CHAPTER / EPISODE: The Battle's Aftermath


	51. Chapter 51: The Battle's Aftermath

**CHAPTER 51: The Battle's Aftermath / The Beginning of the Wars in Naruto's Realm  
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Hagaromo was shocked when he recognized that his lost son, Zet Otsutsuki, was "the second white guardian." Even though it was obvious that Zet didn't have good intentions towards him, Hagaromo was more worried about knowing what happened to his son and why he had to join the Snake King:

"What happened to you, Zet? Why did you disappear without a word? Why did you end up like this? And, why did you have to follow him? It didn't have to be like this…"

Hagaromo was lethally wounded by the human Snake King. The only reason why he was standing was that Zet's white branches lifted him up. He was approaching death. However, the way he talked to Zet denoted more sadness than pain. Zet, on the other hand, talked to him with disdain:

"You are wrong about me. It had to be like this. There was no other way for me. In this realm, I could never get all the things I wanted, even though I was a son of the holy sage himself. You denied me the power that I deserved and expected me to live as an ordinary human who wasn't even recognized as your son. I only gained the power that I needed after I left this world. That was all that mattered to me. The Snake King just helped me to get a portion of this power. He was just a means to an end. Unlike the others, I wasn't his follower and I became what I am without his help. I gained my power on my own, unlike Indra and Ashura, who inherited all of it from you. I did what I had to do. And now, I can finally have what I only dreamed about, what I truly wanted, during all these years, and since the very beginning of my quest. Today, the holy fruit of chakra, the almighty power of Ten-Tails, will be under my command. And even you won't stop me from getting it."

Hagaromo knew that Zet didn't have a good heart, so he ensured that his third son would never become powerful or important. He tried to change him, but his actions only led Zet to hate him. And Zet didn't change. However, he was still his son, so Hagaromo wanted good things for him too. Deep down, he always believed that Zet would be able to change. Only at the end, Hagaromo realized that he was wrong; and his mistake costed the entire realm a great deal of bloodshed and suffering for many years to come…

Zet began the process of separating the inner power from Hagaromo's body to imprison it in his own. Suddenly, he realized something that left him in shock: there was no Ten-Tails and there was no holy fruit of power to be found. Hagaromo didn't have the power of the fruit of chakra! He didn't have it! It simply wasn't there at all. There was nothing to extract, and nothing to gain either. How was it possible?! Why?

"What is the meaning of this!? Does this mean that you did all of that and even won against the Snake King without the power of Ten-Tails?! How is this possible?!"

Zet looked at Hagaromo's eyes and quickly understood how. His father's eyes were dark green. He didn't have the final sharingan eyes anymore. Both rinnegans were gone. At the very beginning, he only had one, and now, the other one was gone too. He sacrificed the power that he inherited from birth—a power that was his own—to seal away the Snake King and to save the future. He also succeeded at stopping everyone there from getting the third fruit of power. Although, his solution meant that he lost it too…

Zet got very angry. He destroyed the branches that were grabbing Hagaromo and held him up himself, pulling up his father's broken shirt.

"You won't stop me from fulfilling my dreams! I can't let you get in my way any longer. Where is it!? Where did you hide it!? Talk! If you don't tell me, I will kill you holy sage!"

Hagaromo grabbed Zet's arms.

"Listen to yourself son. I am not the holy sage; I am your father.

And I would rather die than help you to destroy yourself and our realm's future."

Zet's hatred for the Sage of the Six Paths was at an all-time high after he realized that even without the holy power, Hagaromo was still coming out on top, as always. He was the one that did what no one else could: he defeated the host of a fruit of power without owning another fruit. After all those years, Zet had not been able to surpass him and he was still the one stopping him from getting what he wanted…

Zet made up his mind quickly and without much trouble:

"Really? You would rather die… In that case, I am going to have to do things your way. I won't be stopped by you again. And I am sure that you didn't destroy it, so I will find it. Sooner or later, the power that was yours will become my own. I will surpass you and I will become the first true king of this realm."

Zet's branches held Hagaromo again and one of them took the shape of a long white knife. Zet was about to kill Hagaromo when something stopped him cold. He couldn't move and soon he wasn't even aware of anything anymore. The "second black guardian" (known as "Black Zetsu" in Naruto and as Su Otsutsuki in this story) adopted his fluid non-human form and took over Zet's body as soon as he had half of Zet's head covered.

Hagaromo was still trapped by the branches that were now controlled by Su.

"You monster… it was you, wasn't it? You had something to do with making Zet do all of this."

The black thing covered Zet's face and took the shape of a human face with yellow eyes. It didn't resemble the original Su at all, but it still had the same exact voice:

"Oh no. You know it as well as I do. Zet chose his own path. He ended up like this because he chose it. The same cannot be said about me. I didn't know that I was going to end up like this until it was too late to change it. However, this form has been and will be very useful to achieve my goals."

"Who are you?"

Hagaromo didn't figure it out right away.

"Really? It's been a very long time, but you should be able to recognize my voice Hagaromo. That is pretty much the only thing that hasn't changed about me."

Hagaromo felt the same sensation that he felt when he found out who the other white guardian was.

"Su?"

"See, I knew you had not forgotten me."

Hagaromo's expression changed to great concern. He finally realized that two of the greatest villains from the future were his last son and one of his brothers—the one who had been thrown into exile, as punishment. Hagaromo had seen many things, but his visions and his power failed to show him these critical facts. His lack of perception about these two led to a much darker future for his Human Realm—a future that could have been avoided.

Then, Su revealed his plan to Hagaromo:

"Before you leave us, I want you to know what I plan to do. I admire your accomplishments, and I know that you have partial knowledge about the future; so I want you to know about the future that you couldn't predict nor avoid.

I will use your son Zet and other powerful allies in order to bring back the true power. Zet believes that Ten-Tails is the true power, but you and I know very well that it isn't. I will revive the goddess, Kaguya Otsutsuki, and use her to reshape this realm completely, just like she did once, before I was born. I will make a world where everyone will live happy lives under my rule. And I will make her my permanent body. You failed to predict this and you will die now, so there is nothing you can do to stop it. I will also be able to use your physical form, as I can do for all the people that I have killed, since I gained the Black guardian's power.

I knew that you didn't have the fruit of chakra from the moment I saw you. And I will get it back, of course, but it won't be for me or for Zet. I will use it to bring her back to this world. Nothing else will matter after that. I will be the god of this realm with her power and all the habitants will dream in peace for eternity. It will be a much better world than the one we have lived in so far."

Even without the fruit of chakra, Kaguya was indeed more powerful than Hagaromo, due to all the secrets that she discovered. She was the one that created the original Zetsu army of Zeta-like humans at her Human Realm. She halted all the wars in the world and became the absolute ruler. Kaguya didn't earn the nickname "goddess" for nothing... She was also the one that ended up taking down the Snake King and his entire army of snakes. (She truly defeated him, unlike Hagaromo, who only stopped him from coming back. However, she also failed when it came to finishing his threat for good. And, in the long-term, it was correct to say that he was the true winner from their battle, because that battle's aftermath led to Kaguya's end.)

Hagaromo didn't look too surprised about "Su's plan" though. He already knew what "Black Zetsu's" plan meant and what it would do because he had to deal with this event from the future, just a few months before Pedro Namikaze arrived at the coliseum. He gave crucial help to the heroes from the future to stop the revival of Kaguya Otsusuki. The Dark Realm of the fruit of chakra transcended time, so he was able to reach two of the saviors through it to stop that event. (There were two ways to reach the Dark Realm. One was having and using a special sharingan eye. The other was being very close to death and being summoned, at that point, by the owner of the Dark Realm. This later way was how Hagaromo got in touch with those two heroes, one of which was Naruto…)

Unfortunately, Hagaromo never realized that White Zetsu (Zet) and Black Zetsu (Su) were much more than the Snake King's guardians and Kaguya's puppets. And he didn't see that they would continue causing calamities after their grand defeat during Kaguya's return. He, like Naruto and Sasuke, believed that it was truly over for those two after the defeat of the revived Madara and the failure of Kaguya's return…

Hagaromo knew that the threat of the Snake King still existed, but he had not foreseen that Zet and Su would be as big of a problem for his realm as the dark king himself. He failed to realize it sooner because he didn't know who they really were… And now, it was too late.

Su finished what Zet started. He pushed the branch-like knife through the same place where the dark clones had wounded Hagaromo. Then, he used a dark-style jutsu to block medical ninja techniques from working for at least one hour—more than enough time for Hagaromo to be dead because of that wound.

The branches let go of Hagaromo and he fell down on the sand again—facing up.

"I'm sure that you already knew this was coming Hagaromo. If there is someone who can stop me in this realm, that is you. Even without the fruit of chakra, your abilities are too much of a threat for my plans. I can't let you live if I'm going to bring her back to change this world."

Su was still saying his last words when a lightning arrow went through him. When that happened, he lost his full control over Zet, but he still remained attached to Zet's body. Zet didn't remember anything from the moment when he was about to stab Hagaromo. Su recognized the arrow's shape right away—it was Hamura's. Hagaromo's twin and the other ninjas from the Otsutsuki Clan arrived at the scene.

Su warned Zet:

"We need to get out of here now! Hurry!"

Zet saw the newcomers, but he still didn't move right away.

"Why did you do that before I did it? Are you hiding something from me?!"

"I have as many reasons as you to want him dead. Now, it is done. I ensured that he won't make it. However, we won't make it either if you don't take us out of here now!"

The ninjas began to surround Zet and Su, but Zet unleashed a massive water-style technique:

"Water-style jutsu! Hazul serpent attack! Water clones jutsu!"

A blue serpent of water began to clash with the attackers and a bunch of blue water clones of Zet attacked too. He had no time to make the white solid clones, which were more powerful, because they were surrounded. Instead, he used his water techniques, which were faster. (Before he got all white and green-haired, Zet was primarily a water-style user, and secondarily an earth-style user. However, his sage modes expanded the types of techniques that he could use while he was a sage. And gaining Spiral's abilities took him to a whole new level.)

Spiral began to run towards "Zet-Su" to escape as well. However, a large fire sword cut him in half. It was Indra's attack! He managed to make and use just one arm of his fire-style Susanoo. He couldn't allow them to escape!

Zet ran towards Spiral with Su still attached on him. He grabbed Spiral's upper half with haste.

"Spiral, you better not make me feel sorry about taking you with us! Su, do it now! You can take us out with your teleportation technique! I can't do that!"

Spiral looked very alarmed.

"Hey wait! Don't leave my legs and my torso behind!"

Zet treated Spiral like some sort of lower-level follower:

"You can grow them back you fool! Now come here unless you want to lose the rest of your body too!"

Su created a black sphere that engulfed all three of them and it began to disappear little by little. Hamura and the others launched attacks at the sphere. However, the sphere teleported the "Zetsu trio" a few miles away from there and gave them enough time to escape without being seen.

After the three villains escaped, Hamura and the others ran to where Hagaromo was. Hamura already knew that Indra was fine, but his brother's state was much different. They tried to heal him, but their techniques were not working. He was dying and it didn't seem like they could do anything to save him.

Hamura felt frustrated. Hagaromo wasn't just his twin; he was his best friend and the best leader their clan could have asked for.

"Hagaromo! What happened here? How is this possible? Who did this to you?!"

Hagaromo talked to him and to the others:

"There is no time to mourn my end now. Our clan will continue and all of you are still here.

The Snake King attacked our world again. Hamura, he looks just like he did before. It is as if time didn't pass at all for him…"

Hagaromo barely had any strength left, even to talk.

"Follow what I left written in my will for the future of our clan… until then, you are the new leader Hamura… Now, leave me here, I need you to remove the dark seal of the three commas from Indra. You must do it as soon as possible…"

Hamura showed signs of even greater worry as soon as Hagaromo mentioned the Snake King and the dark seal. He knew what it had done to their godly mother. Like the young Hagaromo, he also saw the first grand battle between Kaguya and the Snake King, many years ago, and he saw how he casted the dark seal on her. Both he and Hagaromo believed that the seal was the real reason why Ten-Tails managed to take over Kaguya permanently…

Hamura was still shocked:

"How did this happen? You don't have your power anymore. Did he take it from you?"

"Don't worry, I hid it well… more than a century will go by before the full power of the fruit of chakra returns… please, save Indra and take care of the Otsutsuki Clan…"

After his final words, Hagaromo died in Hamura's arms. Hamura had great difficulty to leave Hagaromo behind. He closed Hagaromo's eyes and two whole minutes went by before he could stand and go to help Indra.

Indra was experiencing problems with his vision after he overexerted his sharingan eyes to cut Spiral in half, so he wasn't able to get up. Hamura reached him and located the seal of the three black commas on Indra's leg. He tried to erase it using seal breaking techniques, but nothing seemed to work. It wasn't going away and it didn't go away no matter what Hamura did. Others also tried to dispel it, but no one was successful… Hagaromo surely could have done it, but he wasn't among them anymore.

The devastating hit that the Otsutsuki Clan took that day went beyond the loss of their legendary leader and the destruction of the holy sage's coliseum. The worst had yet to come for them…

The news of Hagaromo's death felt like a hint of a black omen. Their clan was doing very well. It was considered the most influential clan in the entire continent, and it had been very successful at stopping all the conflicts among the smaller clans. Therefore, they decided to hide the bad news from the other clans for some time. After all, everyone knew that the Sage of the Six Paths was the biggest reason why their clan was considered the most important one in the Human Realm. They were going to reveal the bad news to the other clans when Hagaromo's will for the Otsutsuki Clan's future became public. Because of Hagaromo's own instructions, at the top of the letter for his will, they decided to wait two months. Hagaromo made it clear with his handwriting outside the letter that it had to be opened and followed two months after his death, not earlier…

Indra spent just one week at the hospital, until his eyes recovered completely. He didn't have any problems with his vision after that. On the other hand, Ashura had a much more difficult time and many attributed his survival to the fact that he was a descendant of Hagaromo. He spent seven weeks at the hospital—three of them in critical condition…

Hamura took Hagaromo's position as the leader, but things didn't feel the same way for him. The truth was that even though he knew that his clan was mighty, he feared that other clans would want to challenge them as soon as they revealed that Hagaromo and "the holy power" were not among them anymore.

Indra was the only one that seemed happy. However, many realized that he wasn't quite himself. It was as if something had changed in him after what happened at the coliseum. Indra didn't notice it though. Only other close friends and family members could see that there was some kind of change in him. While others were sad because of Hagaromo's death, Indra was happy because he knew that he was going to be the next leader of the great Otsutsuki Clan. He barely even mourned the death of his father. He became less compassionate, colder in character, and thirstier for power, every month that went by (after the dark seal was casted on him). He didn't realize it at first though. By the time he became fully aware of it, it was already too late to change to the way he once was…

The two months went by and Ashura recovered, after a very difficult time. He was able to walk well again, just a few days before his father's will for the clan was read publicly by his uncle Hamura. That day, most of the people from the clan gathered at a large plaza and heard the last words that their great leader left behind for them. Indra was waiting anxiously for the moment when he would be named the new leader of the entire clan. His brother was still quite young at 20, and his uncle was nowhere near as powerful as him or Ashura. The rational decision was that he would become the main leader. On the other hand, Ashura didn't care about those things. He just wanted to know what his father wanted to tell them.

Hagaromo's will was to divide their clan into two new clans, one named the Senju Clan, and the other still named the Otsutsuki Clan. Hamura was going to be the leader of the new Otsutsuki Clan and Ashura was the one that Hagaromo chose as the first leader of the Senju Clan. The letter even recommended how to make the divisions between the two and promoted their cooperation.

Hamura, Ashura, Hagaromo's wife Hira (the mother of Indra and Ashura), and most of the people agreed with the holy sage's decision. Indra began to dislike it as soon as he heard that there would be two clans—because that meant that there would be two leaders, and he could only be one of them. His frustration became real when he found out that his name wasn't even mentioned and he wasn't one of the two new leaders. Obviously, he believed that he was the best man for the job, but Hagaromo thought differently. He saw in some of his visions that his son Indra was far more likely to seek war than his son Ashura. Therefore, he thought that Indra wasn't fit to be the next leader of the clan. What Hagaromo didn't see was that the future Indra also had the negative influence of the dark seal, and that was why he became a seeker of power… Unfortunately, the Sage of the Six Paths didn't see all the important details ahead of time…

Indra did the unthinkable that day. He went up to Hamura and read the whole letter with his own eyes. When he was certain that his name wasn't on it, he ripped it apart in front of everyone and stated his wish publicly:

"I wished more than anything to be your new leader, the new guide of the Otsutsuki Clan. For that purpose, I trained and worked very hard during my entire life. I'm very sorry to hear what this letter had to tell us. I respect my father as much as all of you do, but I believe that he didn't make the best decision and he didn't pick the best leader for our clan. And truth be told, someone who isn't among us isn't fit to choose our best future either. I know that most of you will follow his decision anyways, but those of you who don't want this are welcome to join me. I will make a third clan separate from these two. There, I will make all my dreams for our true clan come true. You are all free to join me, or to disagree with me, but I will do it anyways. It is my wish."

This wasn't the Indra that Ashura and the others knew, but it was still an Indra that a bunch of people from the Otsutsuki Clan wanted to follow, no matter what. Things started to fall apart after that day…

Hamura recognized that the seal could be responsible for Indra's change for the worse, but Indra didn't see it that way. In Indra's mind, the seal that he couldn't remove had no power over him. Hamura and Ashura tried to dissuade Indra, but their efforts to convince him failed. He even ignored his mother's plea to take all of that back. And his wife of a few years left him after his big changes started to affect her too.

At the end, the three clans were formed. Hamura and Ashura's clans were separate but still united, and not far from each other. Indra left them. He named his new group the Uchiha Clan and he became its first leader. Then, they began to build their first settlement at a place that was 15 miles away from the Senju Clan. It was also 30 miles away from where The Leaf would be founded in the future by Hashirama Senju (the first Hokage, Ashura's descendant, and a former member of the Senju Clan) and Madara Uchiha (a well-known Uchiha warlord that chose to make peace and join forces with Hashirama to create The Leaf, an all-new clan).

Unfortunately, things didn't stop with the mere separation of the original Otsutsuki Clan into three parts. Things got worse because many of the other smaller clans started to experience more attacks and more conflicts with "the bad clans" that began to attack more frequently, after they found out that there was no "holy sage" that would stop them anymore.

Indra and his people became far more powerful because one of Indra's sons was born with a mangekyou sharingan that had the unique power to give sharingan eyes to all newborns. Therefore, all the babies in the Uchiha Clan obtained the potential to awaken the sharingan eyes and their power, even if they weren't direct descendants of Indra. Naturally, Indra's son and his ability were exploited to give this power to all of them.

After that, Indra declared that they were all Uchihas, so every new child born in their clan was going to have "Uchiha" as his or her last name. That way everyone was going to know and fear the power of the Uchihas and their mighty eyes. They became one of the warring clans as well. And after a few years, the Uchiha Clan grew as large as the Otsutsuki Clan and the Senju Clan because any smaller clan that fought them was defeated and forced to join forces with them…

One day, the Otsutsukis and the Senjus began to intervene with the Uchihas and their expansion. They were the ones that had the first victories against Indra's clan. Therefore, Indra declared war on them and decided that it was time to take what should have been his from the start. Indra had not participated in any of those battles and he had not seen his mother, his brother, his ex-wife, and his uncle Hamura since he left them years ago, to form his new clan. Eventually, he decided that the Uchihas were not going to lose anymore against the Senjus or the Otsutsukis. His superior power was going to guarantee their victory in the next battles with these two familiar clans. The day when Indra faced Hamura and Ashura arrived…

During those events, Su Otsutsuki reached out to Indra. At first, Indra treated him as a great enemy and a traitor, but what could have ended as another battle finished as an agreement of convenience. Su told Indra that he—and only he—could remove the dark seal from him. He warned Indra that if he didn't remove it he would regret it. In exchange, Su wanted Indra to get him, Zet, and Spiral removed from the "most wanted criminals" list, so that they would be able to continue their plans without being attacked and followed everywhere (those who captured rogue ninjas and criminals from the "most wanted" list won enough money to make them rich). Su also offered to keep Hamura occupied so that Indra and the Uchihas could attack and conquer the Otsutsuki Clan. In other words, it seemed like he was asking for very little and willing to do a lot for Indra. Therefore, Indra took the offer, even though he still didn't like or trust Su too much.

In reality, Su wanted to pit the Uchiha and the Senju against each other, so a grand battle between Ashura and Indra could happen. He knew that only Indra and Ashura could defeat him and Zet. No one else at that time stood a chance against their powers. He also wanted to find out if Hamura knew anything about what Hagaromo did with the fruit of chakra. And he was smart enough to manipulate the events to achieve his goals… Su made it look like he was working for Indra's side when, in reality, he used Indra, the Uchihas, and their thirst for conquest. Black Zetsu—as he was called in the most wanted list—was the real "black hand" behind the beginning of the great wars among the big clans of Naruto's world…

Su and Zet began to influence the realm negatively, since the time when those events began...

When the Uchihas and the Otsutsukis were about to have the first battle where Indra would participate, Su got himself into Hamura's headquarters and took the physical form of the Sage of the Six Paths—Hagaromo. This was, perhaps, the most fearsome ability of the original guardians, and both he and Zet had it. However, Zet's ability was slightly different. Su could turn his own body into a human-looking form that resembled anyone he killed. Zet could make his solid clones take the shape and look of anyone he fought against closely. As long as he had placed a hand on that foe, Zet could make clones that looked like them. However, he couldn't adopt that same shape with his own body. In that sense, Zet wasn't 100% like guardian Spiral, but Su was 100% like guardian Black. In a later episode, we will find out why…

Su met Hamura and talked to him making it seem like he was a resurrected Hagaromo. Su tried to find out if Hamura knew anything about what the real Hagaromo did with the fruit of chakra. However, Hamura wasn't a fool. He wasn't powerful, but he was Hagaromo's twin and he knew his twin well-enough to recognize a fake.

Hamura ended up calling his guards and attacking Su. Su revealed his true form and finished the guards pretty easily. Hamura remembered about the one who was in front of Hagaromo that day, and unfortunately, he also recognized Su's voice:

"You… are you are the one who killed him?! You are the criminal known as Black Zetsu. Why do you sound like our brother Su?! Did you kill that bastard too?"

"You are still slower and different than Hagaromo it seems… I am Su. I have no interest in killing you Hamura. You are no threat to me. However, if you know what really happened to Ten-Tails, then you must tell me now. Indra and his men will be here soon and if you don't tell me, chances are that he will get it out of you with harsher methods. Now, he wants the fruit of chakra for himself, so he sent me here to get that information. You can live brother, so be wise and tell me what you know about it. If you do, I will stop Indra from doing anything to you."

"You piece of crap, you haven't changed after all these years. Joining the Snake King and betraying us wasn't enough for you! You are just as rotten as before and just as much of a hypocrite as mother Kaguya and your father. Good guys one day, when it is convenient for you, and rotten rats the next one, when you don't care… I don't know what Hagaromo did with his power and I wouldn't tell you, even if I knew it."

"You haven't changed either Hamura. You still hate me, and you still like to remind me that we are half-brothers only, don't you?"

Su realized that Hamura didn't know anything. Apparently, Hagaromo was very careful about what he did. No one knew what happened to Ten-Tails, even though hiding such a humongous force couldn't have been easy or simple. Su was certain that at least one person had to know something, and indeed, one person knew, but he wasn't there anymore…

Hamura tried to stop the black menace, but Su escaped from there without too much trouble. Then, Hamura and his men got ready to stop Indra and the Uchihas.

Su reached Indra first and warned him that Hamura himself said that he would stop his nephew and the Uchihas from obtaining more power. (He made that up of course. Good villains are good liars...) After that, Su left and he didn't participate in the battle, but he was the one that planted the "dark seeds."

Hamura remembered Hagaromo's final words, "please, save Indra and take care of the Otsutsuki Clan..." He was determined to follow them. He would fight for the Otsutsuki Clan until the end. Unfortunately, after all the things that Indra had done, Hamura only saw two ways to save him: One was capturing him alive, putting him in jail, and sealing his powers—by taking away his eyes, which were the source of his power. The second way was killing him. Hamura didn't know if he and the others would be able to stop someone like Indra, but he knew that they would do anything for their clan, which was Hagaromo's clan before…

Indra's intention was to take over the entire Otsutsuki Clan and make it his own. He would end it in a single battle and to ensure it, he brought most of his Uchiha army with him. There was a grand clash on the land of the Otsutsukis that day. Hamura gathered the top elites from his clan and had a difficult battle with Indra. The rest of the Otsutsukis clashed with the Uchiha army. Neither Indra nor Hamura mentioned Su or what Su talked about with them. Therefore, no one figured out that they misunderstood each other. Indra just wanted to rule over the Otsutsukis. He never cared about Ten-Tails or his father's power—as Hamura believed. And Hamura, deep down, only wanted what was best for Indra. Unfortunately, they faced each other as enemies that day. Indra defeated them and he ended up killing Hamura by mistake with a strike from his lightning Susanoo. That was the moment when Indra finally realized that the dark seal had changed him too much. Before, he would have never had even the intention to fight against his good uncle. Now, he went as far as fighting him seriously, and at the end, he even killed him. Indra had a breakdown and realized that he really needed Su to remove the seal from him as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of Indra's tragedy and it was too late to go back. The mistakes, the bodies, and the bloodshed could not be erased…

At the moment when the Otsutsuki Clan was defeated and their leader killed, Ashura and several ninja battalions from the Senju Clan arrived to help them. Ashura found out that among the victims of Indra's attack were their own mother, Hira Otsutsuki, the woman that was Indra's ex-wife (and a good childhood friend of Ashura), and even his uncle, the leader of the Otsutsuki Clan. Ashura didn't see Indra as his brother anymore after that event, and he always saw him as the reason for their deaths. Indra didn't even know that his mother and his ex-wife lived at the Otsutsuki Clan. He didn't think about their presence when the Uchihas attacked. Needless to say, those were terrible news for Indra as well, but, Ashura didn't give him any time to think about it. That moment was when Ashura and Indra had their first big battle.

Surprisingly for the Uchihas, their almighty leader was defeated even using his great Susanno and the mangekyou sharingan. Furthermore, the Uchihas suffered a grand defeat at the hands of the Senju ninjas. Many people from the Otsutsuki Clan and the Uchiha Clan died that day. The ones that had the least losses were the Senjus. However, the Senju Clan perceived the immense losses of the Otsutsuki Clan as their own.

Despite his newborn-hatred, Ashura didn't kill Indra at the end, and many of the Uchihas survived the battle too. The losses of the Otsutsukis were so great that the women, children, and men that survived had to join the Senju because they couldn't defend themselves from another attack. Therefore, that was the end of the Otsutsuki Clan. After that day, "the Otsutsukis" were officially gone and those that survived stayed with the Senjus. That was the day that marked the beginning of endless wars between the Senjus and the Uchihas. Needless to say, the Uchiha Clan wanted revenge after their survivors recovered. And Indra had to prove himself as a powerful leader, otherwise, he could lose all the things that he had gained and another leader would be chosen…

Su removed the seal from Indra, as promised, and Indra managed to remove "Black Zetsu" (Su), "White Zetsu" (Zet), and "Strange Human Monster" (Spiral) from all the lists, except from the "Bingo Book of Wanted Criminals and Dangerous Rogue Ninjas" that the Senju Clan kept among its documents. Su could remove the seal because his powers also came from the fruit of darkness, which was what the Snake King used to cast his dark seal. However, Indra didn't get anything from removing the seal because the things he did and what he had become could not be erased or taken back, even if the seal was gone. Su gained what he wanted and much more…

The Uchihas and the Senjus had many other battles, scattered conflicts, and even all-out wars. Indra and Ashura fought each other again five more times. After their first battle—where Ashura won without contest—Ashura and Indra were seen in a tie almost every time. The reality was that their powers were very close in magnitude, even though their sources were very different. Unfortunately, in every clash more people from both sides died, so the hatred between the Senjus and the Uchihas didn't calm down. It only increased with time. Those that lost loved ones wanted revenge on the ones that did it. They didn't care if other innocent people died, as long as they were from the opposite clan. Therefore, the wars saw no end. And Indra and Ashura had to face each other again… until their sixth and final battle, where they went against each other at the end and clashed using the giant lightning arrow and a larger-than-normal chakra-bomb. Indra and Ashura died after that final clash. Their power was equal, so neither one managed to come out of it alive…

Su got exactly what he wanted. He, Zet, and Spiral continued searching the human world for the hidden power of Ten-Tails. However, the wars that they started continued for generations. The Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan continued seeing each other as mortal enemies, and, with the passage of time, new clans rose from smaller clans and new conflicts arose—because they all wanted power and influence. They had different looks, clothes, and skin colors, but underneath their exteriors they were all the same, so the war-like state of their world continued…

It was a never-ending spiral of ninja conflicts and search for power… That was the world that the nine young chakra beasts arrived at, when they finally left the nine most secluded places of the human world—where Hagaromo sent them to, initially. The beasts were giant and very powerful. Their chakra levels surpassed even Indra and Ashura by far. This was why they became highly-sought-after weapons as soon as the world knew about their existence. No ninja, no matter how powerful, could defeat one of the beasts. Therefore, if a clan could possess or use them, then this clan would rule over all and win all the battles. However, capturing them and using their power proved to be close to impossible, until a smart mind came up with the idea of "sealing them inside someone," just like the Sage of the Six Paths had done with the legendary Ten-Tails chakra beast…

The "sealing hunt" and the quest for power of the big clans reached great heights. They didn't stop until all nine chakra beasts were sealed inside nine chosen humans that proved to be good vessels for them. No big clan got its hands on two of the beasts though; each clan captured one. And they kept it within the clan by "sealing" the chakra beast in another new individual, once the previous one wasn't suitable to maintain it under control any longer. The individuals that had a tailed beast sealed in them were known as the jinchuurikis…

Unfortunately, controlling the powers of one of the nine living pieces of the fruit of chakra wasn't as simple as sealing it inside someone. That was not enough… The future proved that only a few jinchuurikis truly managed to use and control the full power of their tailed beast, which was part of the power from the original fruit of chakra. Most jinchuurikis became miserable people that had to live life with a demon of power trapped within them, often, against their will... Naruto was one of them, but, he was a different jinchuuriki and a very different person. He was what their power-driven ninja world needed. He was like his father Minato, and like his grandfather before him…

Eventually, Zet and Su found out about the beasts and they were the first ones to figure out what these nine beasts truly were. By that time, most of the beasts had already been "caught" or sealed by one of the big clans that only wanted a powerful weapon on their side. Instead of fighting the clans, Zet and Su allowed them to find and catch all the beast for them. Basically, they allowed the clans to do that hard work for them. They gained time by focusing on finding a way to unite the nine beasts again, to revive Ten-Tails and its holy power. After they found a way to do it, they knew that all they had to do was catching the nine jinchuurikis and extracting the nine parts from them. This quest, however, proved to be more difficult and much longer than what they imagined. It took them almost one century. They were forced to hide their identities and to form an elite group of powerful rogue ninjas from "the book of criminals" in order to achieve their goals. In addition, they spied on the major clans to recognize the new powerful warriors that they would be able to recruit for their cause… Zet, Su, and Spiral were very aware about the new "ninja talents," or the new techniques and the new powerful people, that were being born and raised at the major clans. Even if one of those attacked them, they already knew what these people were capable of…

As if their powerful abilities were not bad enough, these ancient "ninjas of catastrophe" didn't age either, because their forms were not human. They were a true living cancer for the realm…

Without Hagaromo, Indra, or Ashura in the picture, who was going to stop these guys? Let alone stop, who was going to defeat them for good?

The only good news were that Hagaromo's seal worked just as effectively as the dark seal. The Snake King couldn't find a way to return to Hagaromo's realm for 30 years. And when he finally found one, it still didn't work as he expected. The only way for him to come back was finding a way to transfer his consciousness to another body that wasn't the giant Kusanagi (the non-human Snake King), his real self, or any of the other bodies that he trapped at the Realm of the Fruit of Darkness (a.k.a. The Possession Realm). And that wasn't all. Even if he succeeded in doing that "transfer of consciousness," he didn't have his true powers; he only had the powers that the other body, or the other person, had. This meant that both he and his holy powers were blocked from entering Kaguya's realm again. He could only come back by "borrowing" someone else and his or her power. Even the powers of the other two fruits couldn't erase Hagaromo's seal. This proves that even the three holy fruits of power couldn't do everything.

Nonetheless, there was still one way for the Snake King to come back; so, he took it, and he definitely used it better than anybody else… In the future, Kagami Uchiha was one of his most precious victims. However, there was someone that proved to be the perfect vessel for the Snake King's return… Indeed, the dark king was still the biggest threat that Naruto's realm ever faced—all the way from the ancient past to the day when Naruto's son turned fifteen, which was the day when The Leaf's heroes had to face the Snake King…

Luckily, Hagaromo's saviors of the future would be there to help Naruto, his young son Boruto, and the people of The Leaf…

And there was one person that Zet, Su, and even Naruto himself didn't know anything about yet—even though they had seen him before. There was one particular ninja that never fell on anyone's radar, until he came back, out of nowhere, at the most crucial moment…

However, that moment and that place were not the ones that Pedro Namikaze saw after he left the Sage of the Six Paths at the coliseum, before the battle with the Snake King began…

First, Mr. Namikaze landed on what he perceived as "the wrong time"...

(Season 1 ends.)

NEXT STORY (before Season 2): The Matrix Revelations (4th Matrix movie)

NEXT FOR THIS STORY: Brief Recap Episode of Season 1, then, Season 2 begins with #52:"The Wrong Time" (Season 2 AND this story end at chapter 84)


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